As Halloween arrives, could Portsmouth '˜witch' Helen Duncan soon be pardoned?
The Scottish spiritual medium, a mother-of-six, held the seance at the Master Temple Psychic Centre - a room above Homers drug store at 301 Copnor Road, Copnor - in November 1941.
During the event she indicated that HMS Barham had been sunk and that she had been contacted by one of the 800 sailors who perished.
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Hide AdShe was right about the Barham, for on the morning of November 25 the Portsmouth-based ship was hit by three torpedoes from U-Boat 331 and sank taking 862 men with her in just three minutes.
But to mislead the enemy and protect morale the government withheld this information until January 14, 1942.
A few days later the police raided the temple while she was conducting a séance and arrested her.
Helen’s trial took place at the bomb-damaged Old Bailey and the jury took just half an hour to find her guilty under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. She was sentenced to nine months imprisonment.
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Hide AdThe Act was repealed in 1951 and now campaigners are saying the new “Turing law” should clear her name.
They say that the case of Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing was given a posthumous Royal pardon in 2013 after being found guilty of gross indecency in 1952 means Helen Duncan should now also be pardoned for a crime since struck from statute.
Graham Hewitt, who is leading the campaign for a pardon by Helen’s grandchildren, told the Dundee-based Sunday Post: ‘The ‘Turing law’ has set a precedent for Helen’s pardon to come.
‘And it’s one her family will welcome. The circumstances are almost identical. Like Alan Turing, Helen was convicted under legislation now long repelled.
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Hide Ad‘There is a precedent and we are writing to the Scottish Government demanding they do the same.
’Justice has been a long time coming for Helen.’
The Scottish Government says ministers have a power to consider a posthumous pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy and that any application received on behalf of Helen Duncan would be given due consideration.