Pardon plea over last 'witch'

A PETITION calling for the last woman convicted under the Witchcraft Act to be pardoned will come before MSPs today. Members of Holyrood‘s Public Petitions Committee will discuss the petition, which urges ministers to consider the case of Helen Duncan. She was the last person convicted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act and spent nine months in Holloway prison after a trial in 1944. Mrs Duncan was convicted following a seance at which the spirit of a dead sailor was said to have disclosed the loss of the battleship HMS Barham with most of her crew. The sinking had been kept secret by the authorities to maintain wartime morale, and was not disclosed for several months. A petition to the Westminster Government last year failed to secure a pardon, and the new petition, by paranormal group Full Moon Investigations, calls for the Home Secretary to reconsider the case. A statement from Full Moon Investigations described Mrs Duncan as being “an ordinary Scottish housewife who found herself in the centre of a WWII legal battle which ended with her conviction of a ‘crime‘ under Britain‘s ancient Witchcraft Act and jailed for nine months”. The Witchcraft Act was repealed by the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951. Scottish Parliament researchers said it was a common misconception that Mrs Duncan was convicted of being a witch. “In fact, the 1735 Witchcraft Act was originally formulated to eradicate the belief in witches and its introduction meant that from 1735 onwards an individual could no longer be tried as a witch,” said their research paper. “It was, however, possible to be prosecuted for pretending ‘to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration, or undertake to tell fortunes‘. “Supposed contact with spirits fell into this category.”