William Hepper

Background

William Sanchez de Pina Hepper was a 62-year-old painter. He had a studio in Brighton and lived in a flat in Chelsea. He had been a translator for the BBC. He had also spied for the USA in Spain.

Hepper’s young daughter, Pearl, had a friend, 11-year-old Margaret Rose Louise Spevick. Spevick had broken her arm in an accident.

The offence

Hepper wrote to Spevick’s mother and suggested that Spevick could go with him to his studio in Brighton so she could rest her arm and sit as a model. Spevick’s mother agreed.

Spevick was raped and strangled, and her body was found on the bed in Hepper’s studio.

Investigation

Mrs Spevick travelled to see Spevick on 7 February 1954. When she arrived, she could not get an answer from the studio. She found the caretaker, who let her in. She then found her daughter’s raped and strangled body on the bed.

Hepper was tracked down quite quickly and was arrested in Spain on 10 February 1954. He was extradited back to England. The extradition was described as being aboard the liner Alcantara.

Trial

Hepper’s trial took place at Lewes Assizes in July 1954.

Hepper tried to plead insanity and demonstrated his paranoia by collapsing in the witness box. He told the court that on the evening of 4 February he had gone for a walk by the sea to recover from an asthma attack, leaving Margaret reading a book, and that he had never seen her again.

The jury had no doubt that Hepper was responsible and found him guilty.

Sentencing

Hepper was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 11 August 1954.

Outcome

William Sanchez de Pina Hepper was found guilty and was executed by hanging at Wandsworth Prison on 11th August 1954.