The Last Hanging in Cardiff Prison
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 14 September 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In September 1952 Mahmood Hussein Mattan became the last to be hanged at Cardiff Prison, but Mahmood had in fact been framed by the police and 45 years later his conviction was quashed. Mahmood had been a merchant seaman who had ended up settling in Cardiff and marrying a Welsh woman called Laura Williams. They lived in the Tiger Bay district of Cardiff and had three children but in 1950 had separated. Mahmood had had a number of encounters with the police and had committed some minor offences such as small thefts. His vocal distrust of the police had made him unpopular with the local force though and when Lily Volpert, a Cardiff shopkeeper, was found murdered and her shop robbed they quickly turned to Mahmood. Despite a lack of any firm evidence linking him to the crime, he became the prime suspect. Poorly represented in court and facing a hostile jury he was convicted in July 1952 and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was carried out three months later, but the case never truly went away. His family kept the fight alive for 45 years until 1998 when his case was the first to be reviewed by the newly created Criminal Cases Review Commission. His conviction was quickly quashed and his families fight for justice was finally over.
To discuss Mahmood's case author Nadifa Mohamed joins Dan for this episode of the podcast. Her novel The Fortune Men, which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize, is based on the case and she immersed herself in the case, Mahmoud's life and the history of Cardiff's multicultural Tiger Bay area to bring this story of injustice to life.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Elevon, welcome to Dan Snow's history yet. On the 3rd of September 1952, Mach Mood |
| 0:08.0 | Hussein Matan became the last person to be hanged for murder in Wales. He was convicted |
| 0:15.4 | of a murder which took place of Lily Volpuk on 6 March 1952. He was a Somali former merchant |
| 0:24.0 | Seaman who'd come and settled in Wales. The trial was a sham, he was framed by the police |
| 0:29.6 | and around 45 years after his execution, his case was the first to be referred to the court |
| 0:36.0 | of appeal by the newly formed Criminal Cases Review Commission. His conviction for mother |
| 0:42.4 | was very quickly overturned. It talks me all about this remarkable historic case. Is |
| 0:48.9 | Nadeefa Muhammad, she is a Somali British novelist. She's one of all sorts of products |
| 0:54.4 | for her books and her most recent book, The Fortune Man, all about Mach Mood Matan, has |
| 0:58.8 | been long listed for the booker prize. We'll find out if we get shortlisted this week, |
| 1:02.7 | very very exciting indeed. She's been described by the Guardian as the literary |
| 1:07.5 | star of her generation and as you'll hear she did a huge amount of historical research |
| 1:11.7 | for launching into this novel. She clearly is as good a historian as she is a novelist |
| 1:16.4 | and that really is saying something. If you're going to hear lots of great stories, you |
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| 1:47.6 | for free if you sign up right now. Go and check it out. But in the meantime, everybody, |
| 1:53.4 | here is Nadifa Mahamid. Enjoy. Nadifa, thank you very much for coming on the podcast. |
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