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William Sanchez
de Pina
HEPPER
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
February 5, 1954
Date of arrest: 5 days after (in Spain)
Date of birth: 1892
Victim profile: Margaret Rose Louise Spevick,
11
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: Brighton, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom
Status: Executed by hanging
at Wandsworth Prison on 11th August 1954
William Sanchez de Pina Hepper was a 62-year-old
painter who had a studio in Brighton and lived in a flat in Chelsea. He
had led quite a full life and, in his time he had been a translator for
the BBC and had spied for the USA in Spain.
His own daughter had a friend, 11-year-old Margaret
Rose Louise Spevick, who had broken her arm in an accident. Seeing his
chance Hepper wrote a letter to the the girl's mother and suggested that
the girl could go with him to his studio in Brighton where she could
both rest her arm and at the same time sit for him as a model. Mrs
Spevick thought this was a marvelous idea and agreed. The pair of them
travelled to Brighton on 3rd February 1954.
Mrs Spevick decided to surprise her daughter and
travelled down to see her on 7 February but, when she got there she
could not get an answer from the studio. She managed to find the
caretaker who let her in and it was then she found her daughter's raped
and strangled body on the bed.
Hepper was tracked down quite quickly and was
arrested in Spain on the 10th February and extradited. His trial took
place at Lewes Assizes in July 1954. He tried to plead insanity and
demonstrated his paranoia by collapsing in the witness box. He was found
guilty and was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 11th August 1954.
William Sanchez de Pina Hepper
Hepper was a 62-year-old painter with a studio in Brighton and a flat in
Chelsea. He had, in his time, been a translator for the BBC and had
spied for the USA in Spain.
His young daughter, Pearl, had a
friend, eleven-year-old Margaret Rose Louise Spevick, who had broken her
arm in an accident. Hepper wrote the girl's mother and suggested that
the girl could accompany him to his studio in Brighton to convalesce,
and to sit as a portrait model. Mrs Spevick agreed and the pair of them
travelled to Brighton on 3rd February 1954.
Mrs Spevick travelled down to see
her daughter on 7th February but, on arrival, could get no answer from
the studio. The caretaker let her in and she found her daughter's raped
and strangled body on a bed. Hepper was arrested in Irun, Spain on the
10th February and extradited back to England aboard the liner Alcantara.
His 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
had gone for a walk by the sea on the evening of the 4th to recover from
an asthma attack, leaving Margaret reading a book and had never seen her
again. The jury had no doubt that he was responsible and found him
guilty. He was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 11th August 1954.
