Miles Giffard
Encyclopedia
Miles William Giffard twice played cricket
for the Cornwall County Cricket Club
in the 1948 Minor Counties Championship
and was later executed for the murder
of his parents.
in Rugby
in Warwickshire
and at Blundell's School
in Tiverton.
for the Cornwall County Cricket Club
in the 1948 Minor Counties Championship
, playing against Devon
at St Clare Ground in Penzance
on 16 July 1948 and Surrey Second XI
at Kennington Oval on 4 and 5 August 1948.
, his father Charles being a solicitor and clerk of the court to St. Austell magistrates and his mother Elizabeth was vice chairman of the St Austell Conservative Association and President of the Conservative Women's Association.
It is reported that:
“Miles hated his father and in return his father never missed an opportunity to put him down.
In 1952 he met a girl that he liked and he soon developed a serious relationship with her. Gabrielle Vallance was 19 years old and lived in London. His parents however did not like her and told him that he had to give her up. In one of the letters he wrote to the girl he said, 'Short of doing him in, I see no future in the world at all.'
On 7 November he asked his father if he could borrow the car but his father said no. That afternoon his parents went out and Miles stayed at home brooding and getting drunk. By the time his parents returned about 7.30pm Miles had decided what to do. He went down to the garage and using a piece of lead pipe he beat his father to death. Taking the same piece of pipe into the house he then went into the kitchen and bludgeoned his mother to death. He took the bodies and tipped them over the cliff at the end of the garden and then got in the car and drove to see his girlfriend in London.
The bodies were found the next day and the police had little trouble tracing Giffard and arresting him.
Despite clear evidence of schizophrenia presented at his trial at Bodmin
Assizes it took the jury only 35 minutes to find him guilty and he was sentenced to death."
in Bristol
on 24 February 1953.
played the part of Miles Giffard in the 1970 production “Conceptions of Murder: Conversation Piece” directed by Graham Evans.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
for the Cornwall County Cricket Club
Cornwall County Cricket Club
Cornwall County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cornwall and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the 1948 Minor Counties Championship
Minor Counties Cricket Championship
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status...
and was later executed for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of his parents.
Education
Giffard was born in October, November or December 1925 and educated at Rugby SchoolRugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
in Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and at Blundell's School
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school located in the town of Tiverton in the county of Devon, England. The school was founded in 1604 by the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and relocated to its present location on the...
in Tiverton.
Cricket
Miles Giffard played cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
for the Cornwall County Cricket Club
Cornwall County Cricket Club
Cornwall County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cornwall and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the 1948 Minor Counties Championship
Minor Counties Cricket Championship
The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England that is contested by those county cricket clubs that do not have first-class status...
, playing against Devon
Devon County Cricket Club
Devon County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Devon and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
at St Clare Ground in Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
on 16 July 1948 and Surrey Second XI
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
at Kennington Oval on 4 and 5 August 1948.
Crime
By the age of 14 Giffard was being seen by a psychiatrist who was concerned at his mental deterioration. By the time Miles was 26 he was in the words of his doctor, an 'idle little waster' who, despite being given every opportunity, had been unable to hold a steady job. Miles’ parents were busy and well respected people in St AustellSt Austell
St Austell is a civil parish and a major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the south coast approximately ten miles south of Bodmin and 30 miles west of the border with Devon at Saltash...
, his father Charles being a solicitor and clerk of the court to St. Austell magistrates and his mother Elizabeth was vice chairman of the St Austell Conservative Association and President of the Conservative Women's Association.
It is reported that:
“Miles hated his father and in return his father never missed an opportunity to put him down.
In 1952 he met a girl that he liked and he soon developed a serious relationship with her. Gabrielle Vallance was 19 years old and lived in London. His parents however did not like her and told him that he had to give her up. In one of the letters he wrote to the girl he said, 'Short of doing him in, I see no future in the world at all.'
On 7 November he asked his father if he could borrow the car but his father said no. That afternoon his parents went out and Miles stayed at home brooding and getting drunk. By the time his parents returned about 7.30pm Miles had decided what to do. He went down to the garage and using a piece of lead pipe he beat his father to death. Taking the same piece of pipe into the house he then went into the kitchen and bludgeoned his mother to death. He took the bodies and tipped them over the cliff at the end of the garden and then got in the car and drove to see his girlfriend in London.
The bodies were found the next day and the police had little trouble tracing Giffard and arresting him.
Despite clear evidence of schizophrenia presented at his trial at Bodmin
Bodmin
Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...
Assizes it took the jury only 35 minutes to find him guilty and he was sentenced to death."
Execution
Giffard was hanged at Horfield PrisonBristol (HM Prison)
HMP Bristol is a Category B men's prison, located in the Horfield area of Bristol. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
on 24 February 1953.
TV production
John CastleJohn Castle
John Castle is an English actor. Castle has acted in theatre, film and television. He is well known for his role as Postumus in the 1976 BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius and for playing Geoffrey in the 1968 film, The Lion in Winter. He also played Dr...
played the part of Miles Giffard in the 1970 production “Conceptions of Murder: Conversation Piece” directed by Graham Evans.
Sources
- Murder Charge Against Son, Evidence Of Grave Mental Disorder, The Times, Thursday, 5 February 1953 (pg. 2; Issue 52538; col D)
- Giffard Found Guilty - Death Sentence for Murder of Father, The Times, Saturday, 7 February 1953 (pg. 3; Issue 52540; col C)
- Giffard Executed, The Times, Wednesday, 25 February 1953 (pg. 5; Issue 52555; col A)
- Van der Kiste, John, & Sly, Nicola, Cornish Murders (Sutton Publishing, 2007)
- This Week in Crime – “Schizo Son Slays Parents’, True Crime Library, Extracted 6 November 2009
- www.real-crime.co.uk, Male Murders, Giffard, Miles, Extracted 6 November 2009
- Cricketarchive.com, Players – Miles Giffard, Extracted 06.11.09
- “Conceptions of Murder: Conversation Piece”, British Film Institute, Film and TV Database, Extracted 6 November 2009