Let Him Have It review (DVD) ★★★★

From Peter Medak, the man who directed the excellent The Krays a year prior, Let Him Have It is another gritty British drama based on true events, and one that is every bit as fascinating and moving as it is shocking.

Telling the story of how a nineteen-year-old man wound up sentenced to death after being involved in a botched burglary, the film is a gripping look at the infamous miscarriage of justice that was born out of the murder of a policeman, and resulted in the hanging of Derek Bentley, who was executed in 1953 by Albert Pierrepoint, one of the UK's most prominent hangmen. Bentley, who suffered from epilepsy after a 15-foot fall as a child, only to then sustain serious head injuries years later when his house was bombed in the Second World War, had the mental age of an eleven-year-old. Later on influenced by younger teenagers who took sickening advantage of his vulnerabilities, Derek found himself in the middle of a burglary with 'friend' Christopher Craig, who was armed with a handgun. One dead officer later and the pair found themselves in front of a judge who dished out the death sentence to the innocent Bentley.

Following the film's release, Derek was finally granted a posthumous pardon in 1998 after a 45-year campaign, but his parents and sister guttingly never lived to see his name cleared. Ultimately it's an honest telling of a tale that deserved to be captured on celluloid, urging further reading, though grim the history may be, because of the case's importance to the British judicial system.

EXTRAS None.