The Murder of Henry Tandy & The Execution of George Newland

Trawling old murder cases, it is inevitable the motive for a callous & brutal murder cab be quite simply, "they have money!"  People are murdered and the culprit has a very huge chance of standing on the scaffold.  But it never deterred them.   And at around that time, the early 1950`s, there was a big rise in violent crime committed by young men.  One film that emphasised this was "Cosh Boy" made in 1952 and had a young Joan Collins in it.  One such young man, in his defence, claimed he thought of the idea of robbery, after watching a crime film.  It shows that "video nasties" were not the only films capable of inducing people to kill.  Believe that and you believe anything.

    George James Newland was a 21 year old who had done National Service in a military base by Orsett, near Grays in Essex.  There, he befriended an elderly couple, Henry Tandy, aged 65, and his wife, Honor.   He helped them out with small gifts of food and cigarettes.  The couple really took a liking to the young soldier.  After coming out of the Army, he returned to the family home in Walthamstow, London.  He found work as a metal caster, but one day, in May 1953, he wanted to buy a new suit but did not have the money.  He hit upon the idea of robbing the elderly couple he had befriended.  On May 30th, he bought some fruit, then put a claw hammer in the bag with the fruit and made his way to Orsett.  Henry & Honor were glad to see the friendly young man and invited him into their home.  Then Newland attacked them with the claw hammer.  MNrs Tandy was beaten unconscious and had to spend considerable time in hospital to recover from her wounds.  Henry was not so lucky.  He died from the savage attack inflicted by Newland.  Newland then ransacked the house for money, finding just over £8.

    Police were quickly on his trail and was taken in for questioning.  He confessed to the attack, saying that he went to the cinema and watched a violent film that gave him ideas.  This was not believed by the Jury and he was convicted and condemned.  He was executed at Pentonville Prison on 23rd December 1953 by Albert Pierrepoint.