On 3 September 1952, Mahmood Hussein Mattan was hanged in Cardiff prison after receiving a sentence of death for the murder of Lily Volpert. In 1998, 46 years after he lost his life, Mattan was exonerated for this crime. His headstone in Western Cemetery, Cardiff quite rightly reads "Killed by injustice" (in English and Arabic).
Mahmood Hussein Mattan was born in British Somaliland in the 1920s. [1] It is likely that he first came to Britain while working on board one of the many ships travelling from Africa and due to employment opportunities in the maritime sector decided to stay. By the mid-1940s, the Somalian seaman had settled in Cardiff.
In 1945, Mattan met his future wife, local woman Laura Williams. One day while she was on her way to work, he approached her and asked if he could take her to the cinema. [2] Laura agreed but with trepidation as she was from a white working-class family that lived in the suburbs of Cardiff and believed her mother and father would have disapproved of their relationship. However, they quickly fell in love and two years later the couple married. [3] After their wedding, they looked for a place to live away from the docks, but no landlord would allow them to reside together which meant that Laura had to remain at home and Mattan in his lodging house. [4] Despite racist views and the obstacles which the couple found continuously put in front of them, Laura and Mattan had a loving relationship and stayed together.
The adversity they had faced in Cardiff, prompted the couple to move to Hull where Mattan 'found work and attitudes towards them were more open and accepting.' [5] However, after a short time Mattan lost his job and they were forced to move back to Wales. Although, Laura has spoken about their time in Hull, we have been unable to find the specific dates that they were in the region. It is believed they lived in this area in the late 1940s either before or between the births of their children. However, what is clear is that David was born in Cardiff in 1948, Omar in 1949 and Mervyn in 1951. [6]
Laura, Mattan and their family were definitely living in Cardiff by early 1952. They resided in a house in Davis Street where they were continuously ridiculed for their interracial marriage. [7] It was during this time that their lives would change forever.
The murder of Lily Volpert
On 6 March 1952 at 8pm, Lily Volpert, a Jewish shopkeeper and unofficial money lender in Bute Town, Cardiff was murdered. [8] Her throat was slashed with a razor and £100 was stolen from her premises. The police were pressured to act quickly and within a couple of hours they were reportedly looking for a 30-year-old Somalian man after they had been given an eye-witness statement from Jamaican carpenter, Harold Cover reported that he had seen Mattan leaving Volpert's shop around the time of the murder. [9] Cover became the chief prosecution witness and was a central figure in the case, although he could only provide weak evidence and possibly had his own motives for accusing Mattan of the crime. [10] Approximately, a week after the murder, the Volpert family offered a £200 reward for information. [11] This prompted notorious police informer, May Gray, to come forward and report that Mattan had entered her shop and produced a bundle of cash which he said was to buy second hand clothes. [12] She insisted this was out of character for the Somalian as he was usually short of money.
On 6 March 1952 at 8pm, Lily Volpert, a Jewish shopkeeper and unofficial money lender in Bute Town, Cardiff was murdered. [8] Her throat was slashed with a razor and £100 was stolen from her premises. The police were pressured to act quickly and within a couple of hours they were reportedly looking for a 30-year-old Somalian man after they had been given an eye-witness statement from Jamaican carpenter, Harold Cover reported that he had seen Mattan leaving Volpert's shop around the time of the murder. [9] Cover became the chief prosecution witness and was a central figure in the case, although he could only provide weak evidence and possibly had his own motives for accusing Mattan of the crime. [10] Approximately, a week after the murder, the Volpert family offered a £200 reward for information. [11] This prompted notorious police informer, May Gray, to come forward and report that Mattan had entered her shop and produced a bundle of cash which he said was to buy second hand clothes. [12] She insisted this was out of character for the Somalian as he was usually short of money.
Despite Cover and Gray's evidence, other eyewitness testimonies contradicted their accounts. For example, Volpert's sister, who was in the living quarters at the back of the shop at the time of the murder, said she saw a 'full-faced Black man at the shop door' only moments before the crime was committed. [13] This did not match the description of Mattan who was very slender and had a thin face. Other members of the Volpert family also described a tall Black man and said his head nearly touched the door frame which meant he was nearly 6 feet tall- once again this description did not match Mattan's. [14] Furthermore, when the police searched the Somalian's home, nine days after the murder, they found nothing to link him to the crime plus Mattan had a solid alibi which was confirmed by several people, including his wife's family and two friends. Nevertheless, on 17 March 1952, Mattan was charged with murder. [15] The police allegedly arrested him due to suspected tiny spots of blood on his second-hand shoes as well as the questionable witness statements they had gathered from Cover and Gray. [16] It was reported that when he was asked if he wanted a solicitor to defend him, Mattan replied "Defend me for what? I don't want anything, and I don't care anything [sic]. You can't get me for what I have not done." [17]
While in police custody Mattan featured in at least two police line-ups in which none of the Volpert family picked him out. A 12-year-old girl also came forward to report that she had seen the victim answer the door to a Black man with a moustache after the store had closed at 8pm. [18] This man once again did not match Mattan's description as he was always clean shaven. She later gave evidence that when she went to Cardiff Police Station to try and identify the attacker in an identity parade, Mattan was the only man there. [19] She told the Police that he was not the man she had seen but the they dismissed her, and her evidence was not passed to the defence. [20] It would seem they had made up their mind that Mattan was guilty.
The trial
Despite mounting evidence that Mattan was not the correct suspect, he was charged and tried for the murder of Volpert at the Swansea Assizes. His defence by modern day standards was shockingly poor and during the three-day trial it became clear that racist beliefs and stereotypes would dictate the outcome. Mattan's own defence barrister, T. E. R. Rhys-Roberts, described his client in court as 'this semi-civilised savage, a half-child of nature.' [21] The defence also did not call any character witness, although Mattan's wife and friends wanted to support him. In addition, it was believed that the suspect should have had access to an interpreter to ensure he understood what exactly was being said in court. [22]
Despite mounting evidence that Mattan was not the correct suspect, he was charged and tried for the murder of Volpert at the Swansea Assizes. His defence by modern day standards was shockingly poor and during the three-day trial it became clear that racist beliefs and stereotypes would dictate the outcome. Mattan's own defence barrister, T. E. R. Rhys-Roberts, described his client in court as 'this semi-civilised savage, a half-child of nature.' [21] The defence also did not call any character witness, although Mattan's wife and friends wanted to support him. In addition, it was believed that the suspect should have had access to an interpreter to ensure he understood what exactly was being said in court. [22]
After what can be only described as a farcical trial, on 24 July 1952 Mattan was found guilty of murdering Lily Volpert and was sentenced to hang for this crime. [23] However, the Somalian continued with his belief that the guilty person would be found and that he would not be hanged. Although, there was an appeal, on 2 September, the Daily Mirror reported that the Home Secretary had decided that there would be no reprieve for Mattan. [24] The following day, on the morning of 3 September, after spending time with an Imam, Mattan was taken from his cell to the gallows in Cardiff prison and executed. He was the last person to be hanged in Wales. [25]
After the death of her husband, Laura and her children fought tirelessly to clear Mattan's name. Although, their first campaign in 1968/1969 came to no avail, in 1996 they were granted permission to move his body from a grave at the prison to Western Cemetery, Cardiff. [26] Mattan's conviction was eventually quashed on 24 February 1998. His case was the first to be referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and they ruled that the decision to convict the Somalian was flawed. As a result, the family were awarded around £700,000 compensation which was to be shared between Mattan's wife and three children. [27] This was the first compensation awarded to the family of a person wrongfully hanged. However, in interviews Laura and her children have always maintained that the money has brought them no solace. The financial compensation of their father's death could not remove the years of economic and emotional hardship that the family experienced, nor could it remove the fact that their lives were blighted by the associated wider prejudice of those who didn't forget the hanging. In an interview in 2001, Omar spoke about how the family still misses Mattan. He confessed "She [Laura] still sits in the armchair speaking to him. Quite often she tells him: 'See? You should have listened to me. If we'd stayed in Hull like I wanted, then none of this would have happened and you'd still be here." [28]
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Sadly in 2003 Omar Mattan was found washed up on Murkle Beach in northern Scotland at the age of 53 years old. [29] Although he had been drinking there were no suspicious circumstances. It is his brother Mervyn's belief that his death and his life was marred as a result of the miscarriages of justice and the racism their family suffered. His mother Laura Mattan died in 2008 aged 78 years old.
Footnotes
- There is some disagreement about his birth year, some reports advise that Mattan was born in 1924, but his family insisted that he was born four years later and had lied about his age while in Somalia, so he could go to sea.
- Natasha Narayan, The Observer, 2 June 1996.
- Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.
- Natasha Narayan, The Observer, 2 June 1996.
- Ibid.
- Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
- Portsmouth Evening Post, 17 March 1952, p. 1.
- Somalia online, https://www.somaliaonline.com/community/topic/8783-mohamoud-mattan39s-misscarriage-of-justice-alla-yarxama/?tab=comments#comment-125165 accessed 16/04/18.
- Natasha Narayan, The Observer, 2 June 1996.
- Serious doubt has been cast over Cover’s accounts of that evening as seventeen years later in 1969, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder after cutting his daughter’s throat with a razor.
- Birmingham Daily Gazette, 11 March 1952, p. 1.
- Natasha Narayan, The Observer, 2 June 1996.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Portsmouth Evening Post, 17 March 1952, p. 1.
- Somalia online, https://www.somaliaonline.com/community/topic/8783-mohamoud-mattan39s-misscarriage-of-justice-alla-yarxama/?tab=comments#comment-125165 accessed 16/04/18.
- Portsmouth Evening Post, 17 March 1952, p. 1.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Coventry Evening Telegraph, 3 September 1952, p. 13
- Natasha Narayan, The Observer, 2 June 1996.
- Coventry Evening Telegraph, 29 July 1952, p. 9.
- 2 September 1952, p. 3.
- The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/so-who-is-the-real-killer-of-tiger-bay-1234073.html accessed 18/4/18.
- Birmingham Daily Post, 13 June 1969, p. 12.
- Somalia online, https://www.somaliaonline.com/community/topic/8783-mohamoud-mattan39s-misscarriage-of-justice-alla-yarxama/?tab=comments#comment-125165 accessed 16/04/18.
- Somalia online, https://www.somaliaonline.com/community/topic/8783-mohamoud-mattan39s-misscarriage-of-justice-alla-yarxama/?tab=comments#comment-125165 accessed 16/04/18.
- The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/aug/03/race.world accessed 18/04/18.