Episode 5 - The Last Man to be Hanged in Scotland

Aberdeen, 1963. As the death penalty nears its end across the UK, a crime of passion shatters the city’s uneasy calm. Henry John Burnett, a young fishmonger, is consumed by an obsessive love that ends in murder.

Captured after Scotland’s largest manhunt, Burnett becomes the last man to be executed in Scotland.

In this episode, with expert insight from Robert Gordon University’s School of Law and Social Sciences, we explore the gripping true story behind the killing, the final days of capital punishment, and the complex questions of justice and closure it left behind.

Curious to learn more? Turn curiosity into a career and explore RGU’s range of law and criminology courses at rgu.ac.uk/lawandsocialsciences.