John Austin (highwayman) John Austin (highwayman) John Austin (died 7 November 1783) was an English footpad who became the last person to be hanged at the Tyburn gallows outside London. He was sentenced to death for the murder of a labourer called John Spicer from Kent. The Recorder of London, James Adair, described it as a "robbery with violence" that involved "cutting and wounding [...] in a cruel manner." This hanging would mark the end of Tyburn, a village then in the county of Middlesex, being a place of executions for almost 600 years. Austin was brought from Newgate prison in the City
John Austin (highwayman) neck, and as the cart was taken from under him the slackness in the rope prevented rapid asphyxiation. It was said it took 10 minutes for him to choke to death. As Austin was a murderer, his body was cut down and sent for formal dissection by The Company of Surgeons at the Surgeon's Hall in the Old Bailey. The gallows were dismantled after the execution. Future public hangings were now conducted on a scaffold named the "new drop" outside the Newgate. John Austin (highwayman) John Austin (died 7 November 1783) was an English footpad who became the last person