Welcome to Season 3 Episode 6 of They Walk Among us, a podcast dedicated to UK True Crime.

Listener caution is advised, as this episode contains adult to UK true crime.

Listener caution is advised, as this episode contains adult themes and descriptions that some listeners may find distressing.

A controversial case in British law, when a 22-year-old man with the mental capacity of a

nine and a half-year-old, and the understanding of right and wrong equal to that of a six-year-old,

is sentenced to hang for murder.

John Thomas Straffon was born on February 27th, 1930, the third child in the Straffin family. His mother struggled with John. He was fuzzier than her other two babies, and by the time her son reached the age where his siblings

had learnt to walk and talk, John wasn't ready. When John was just an infant, the family left

Borden military camp in Hampshire, where his father had been posted as a serving soldier. The family

of five left England to go to India, where Mr Mr Straffen had found work, but while there

John became very ill. Doctors in India thought the boy had a combination of measles and sunstroke,

but later in John's life this diagnosis would be disputed by doctors in England. They thought

John was misdiagnosed and that his illness had been in syphalitis, a serious condition in which the brain becomes swollen and had in turn affected John's mental development.

The Straffens had two more daughters, but John was upset he was no longer the youngest child.

When John was eight, the family returned to England and settled

in Bath, the town in South West England. In the same year he was cautioned by police

for stealing money and a rabbit. In July of the following year he was again cautioned

for stealing a comic book. By November he was summoned to Bath's juvenile court after he was charged

with larceny. His punishment was 12 months probation, though the probation officer was displeased

with John. The now 10-year-old didn't try to hide the fact he was stealing. For example, he took

money from his mother's purse purse and when traveling to meet the

probation officer, he would get on the train without paying. He was referred to the Bath

...