Mahmood Hussein Mattan (Maxamuud Xuseen Mataan)

Who was he?

Mahmood Hussein Mattan was born in British Somaliland in 1923 and worked as a merchant seaman (Wikipedia, Mahmood Hussein Mattan). He settled in Tiger Bay, the docks area of Cardiff, and married a local woman; as a mixed couple they faced racist abuse (same source). He left the merchant navy in 1949 and later worked in a steel foundry, among other jobs (same source). See Somalis in Cardiff and Somali seamen and early migrants.

Trial and execution

On 6 March 1952 the shopkeeper Lily Volpert was murdered in her shop in Cardiff's docks (Wikipedia). Police found nothing incriminating in Mattan's room, and the victim's relatives did not pick him out at an identity parade (same source). He was tried at Swansea in July 1952 and convicted mainly on the evidence of one prosecution witness (same source). The jury was not told that other witnesses had not identified him, and his own barrister described him in racist terms in his closing speech (same source).

He was hanged at Cardiff Prison on 3 September 1952, the last person executed there (same source).

Cleared

His case was the first referred to the Court of Appeal by the new Criminal Cases Review Commission (Wikipedia). On 24 February 1998 the court quashed his conviction, with Lord Justice Rose calling the case "demonstrably flawed" (same source). His family received compensation, the first award for a person wrongly hanged (same source). In 1996 his remains had been reburied in a Cardiff cemetery under a headstone reading "Killed by injustice" (same source).

On 3 September 2022, the 70th anniversary of his execution, South Wales Police apologised to his family (same source).

In books and audio

Nadifa Mohamed's novel The Fortune Men (2021), shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is based on his case (Wikipedia). The BBC podcast Mattan: Injustice of a Hanged Man followed in 2022 (same source).

In short

A Somali seaman wrongly hanged in Cardiff in 1952, whose conviction was quashed in 1998.