The Annual Register for 1885 attributed the failure of the drop to the fact 'that the rains of the preceding night had caused the planks to swell and hence the trouble'. A Babbacombe resident poured scorn on this theory in a letter to the Times: 'It appears that John Lee who broke the skull and cut the throat of his benefactress, and then set fire to her body, is not to be hanged as, owing to the rain on Sunday night, the drop did not work easily the next morning. It should be announced that in future, executions will take place weather permitting.'

Written by Mike Holgate

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