Britain’s Most Prolific Executioner: Pierrepoint

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For Albert Pierrepoint, execution was a family affair. His father and uncle were hangmen and from the 1940s until the late 1950s Albert was Britain's "Number One" executioner. Which meant he was the one sent to hang the Nazis who ran the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of the war.

Who was Albert Pierrepoint? What does it take to be able to execute hundreds of people? And what is 'The Drop'?

Edited and produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone. It's us, your hosts Maddie Pelling and Anthony Delaney.
0:04.2	But before we begin the show, we want to ask for a few seconds of your time.
0:08.2	If you're enjoying After Dark, and we love you, if you are, we would love you just a little bit more.
0:13.5	If you could vote for us in the listeners choice category at the British Podcast Awards.
0:18.0	So go to the show notes now, click the link and just then search for After Dark.
0:23.2	Fill in your name and your email and don't forget to confirm. They will send you an email.
0:27.2	You need to confirm. The whole process probably takes about 30 seconds.
0:30.6	If you've already voted, we are so, so grateful. If you haven't, stop what you are doing right now.
0:35.4	Vote for us before you enjoy this show.
0:38.4	Hello everyone. Anthony here. Listen, we have some sensitive content in this episode. So this one
0:44.2	might not be for you. If it's not, please go back, listen to one of the earlier episodes.
0:47.8	But if you're sticking around, we're certain that you're going to enjoy this one.
1:14.2	Yeah. You're going to enjoy this one. In the mid-1940s, Britain was at war. In the mid-1940s, Britain was at war.
1:21.1	Across the country, bomb shelters provided security from the near continual onslaught of German bombers.
1:27.4	In less violent demonstrations of conflict, ration books were marked with pencils in food stores across the capital and beyond,
1:29.3	an everyday keepsake of a tumultuous moment in history.
1:33.3	But as the world shook under the weight of combat, the administration of everyday life still somehow went on.
1:41.3	Doctors treated minor illnesses, the postmen delivered letters, now more eagerly
1:46.6	awaited than ever by some, and criminals broke the law. For some of these criminals,
1:52.5	the justice system, such as it was, meant that their actions brought them face to face
1:57.5	with one Mr. Albert Pierpoint.
2:08.3	You see, Albert Pierpoint was an executioner.
	...

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