Turing denied pardon

• Tweet
• Pin It

Famous gay mathematician and World War II codebreaker Alan Turing will not get an official pardon from the UK Government despite a campaign by petitioners that collected more than 20,000 signatures.

Turing devised the Turing Bombe, a code-breaking device used to decipher the Nazi Enigma codes.

He was convicted of gross indecency in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK, and sentenced to chemical castration.

He killed himself two years later by taking cyanide.

Justice Minister Lord McNally dismissed the motion in the House of Lords.

“It is tragic that Alan Turing was convicted of an offence which now seems both cruel and absurd, particularly … given his outstanding contribution to the war effort,” McNally said.

“However, the law at the time required a prosecution and, as such, longstanding policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times.”

4 Comments

1. 

   Dave

   February 17, 2012 at 10:02 am

   
   

   Disgraceful! You can break a code,save millions of lives, but not earn the respect of those people you saved simply because you made love with your partner.

   Conservative Justice Minister Lord McNally is only breathing because of Alan Turing.
2. 

   JackAlison

   February 18, 2012 at 1:33 pm

   
   

   ‘….ensure instead that we never again return to those times.’ And in doing so a timely reminder would be the overturning of prejudice and not only a pardon but an apology. We’re not taking about crimes here, we’re talking about the criminalizing of someone merely b/c they were born that way. Conservative Justice Minister Lord McNally is on the wrong side of history. And his judgement will eventually be overturned on appeal.
3. 

   Paul

   February 19, 2012 at 10:52 pm

   
   

   to true Dave
4. 

   Stuart Baanstra

   February 22, 2012 at 8:32 am

   
   

   Refusing Turing a pardon is an abomination!

You must be logged in to post a comment Login