stand, the defence called Dr John Garson to the stand. They were hoping to discredit Collins' testimony by establishing his credentials as one of Inspector Collins' mentors, thus giving to the jury the impression that he was more of an expert than Collins in the study of fingerprinting. As expected, he testified that upon examination of the print taken from the cash box and that of Alfred Stratton, he would say with certainty that they were not in agreement. However, the defence failed to reckon with the fact that Garson was not an expert of fingerprinting but of anthropometry, its rival field in identification. As a matter of fact, he had spoken against fingerprinting in the Belper Committee. And there was one more thing of which they were unaware, which Muir intended to use to his advantage. In cross-examination, Muir called into evidence two letters, each written by Garson. One letter was to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the other was to the solicitor for the defence. Each letter said that Garson would be willing to testify for either side in the trial, depending on who would pay him more. MR. MUIR. — How can you reconcile the writing of these two letters in the same day? The witness (Dr Garson). — I am an independent witness. The judge, Mr Justice Channell, remarked that after writing two such letters he would opine that Dr. Garson was an "absolutely untrustworthy" witness. Having seen the credibility of Dr Garson as a witness shattered, the defence decided not to call Dr Faulds as a witness, fearing that Prosecutor Muir would have something to discredit him as well. Conviction and execution After both sides had given their summations and the jury had been given their final instructions, it took them a little more than two hours of deliberation to find the Stratton brothers guilty of murder, and on 6 May 1905 they were sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on 23 May the same year. References Further reading Beavan, Colin. Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science. New York: Hyperion, 2001. External links The Case That Made History THE HISTORY OF FINGERPRINTING IN CRIMINAL IDENTIFICATION AND THE LAUNCH OF FORENSIC SCIENCE English people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by England and Wales Executed English people People executed for murder 20th-century executions