Guenther Podola English thief of German origin Date of Birth: 08.02.1929 Country: Great Britain

Gunther Podola: A Biography of a Notorious Criminal

Born in Berlin, Germany, Gunther Podola was an English thief of German descent. In his youth, he was an active member of the Hitler Youth movement, displaying fanaticism towards its ideologies. However, in August 1952, Gunther decided to leave Germany and immigrated to Canada.

On March 1, 1957, Gunther was sentenced to ten days in prison for a robbery in Montreal, Canada. Just twenty-five days later, he was found guilty of eleven additional robberies and received a two-year prison sentence. On July 25, Gunther was released from prison only to be deported from Canada to West Germany.

Not staying in his home country for long, Gunther relocated to London on May 21. Adopting the alias "Mike Colato," he pretended to be a gangster. One of his notable operations involved robbing American model Verne Schiffmann, stealing jewelry and fur worth a total of 2000 pounds from her house. Gunther attempted to blackmail Schiffmann by offering to return the stolen items for 500 pounds. However, Schiffmann contacted the police, leading to Gunther's arrest.

During the arrest, Gunther fatally shot Sergeant Raymond Purdy, one of the police officers. Gunther claimed to suffer from amnesia caused by the violence inflicted upon him by the police. The police, on the other hand, stated that Gunther had already received a blow to the head during the initial arrest, although this played a minimal role in the subsequent events.

Gunther's allegations of police brutality prompted a nine-day delay in the trial. During this time, a group of experts was gathered to evaluate Gunther's condition. After 3.5 hours of examination, the experts concluded that Gunther was fit to stand trial. Despite this, Gunther continued to assert that he did not remember the events and was unable to respond to the charges against him.

Specialists, including neurologist Michael Ashby and psychiatrist Archibald Leigh, testified before the jury. However, their testimonies failed to help Gunther's case. In fact, Archibald Leigh openly stated that Gunther was merely pretending to suffer from memory loss. After 38 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Gunther guilty of the severe crime of murder, punishable by the death penalty. The specific method of execution was left to the discretion of Judge Edmund Davies.

For unknown reasons, the Home Secretary at the time, Richard Butler, transferred the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The previous verdict was upheld, and Gunther was denied the right to appeal to the House of Lords by the Attorney General. The case was closed, much to the satisfaction of the general public.

On November 5, 1959, Gunther was hanged at Wandsworth Prison at 9:45 am. His body was later buried in the prison cemetery. Gunther's execution marked the last hanging in the history of the British judicial system.