Leslie George Hylton (29 March 1905 – 17 May 1955) was a Jamaican cricketer, a right-arm bowler and useful lower-order batsman who played in six Test matches for the West Indies between 1935 and 1939. In May 1955 he was hanged for the murder of his wife, whom he had shot in a jealous rage a year earlier. Born into poverty, Hylton became a regular member of the Jamaican cricket side from 1927. Although overlooked on several occasions for the full West Indies team, he was finally selected in 1935, to face the visiting English touring team. He performed well, as part of a trio of fast bowlers that also included Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale, and helped to secure a West Indies victory in the four-match Test series. He was chosen again in 1939, for a three-Test tour of England, but was out of form and lost his place in the Test side. On his return home he retired from first-class cricket. In 1942 Hylton married Lurline Rose, the daughter of a police inspector. A son was born in 1947. In the early 1950s, Lurline Hylton's ambitions to be a dress designer led to long absences at fashion schools in New York. There, she met up with Roy Francis, a reputed philanderer, and the two began an affair. When Hylton learned of this he confronted his wife, and after initial denials she confessed. Hylton then shot her seven times. His defence of provocation was rejected by the court, which found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Legal appeals, and a petition for clemency, proved to be of no avail as the law took its course. Hylton has been generally overlooked in cricket histories. The 1956 Wisden included an obituary that contained the date but not the manner or circumstances of his death. Many years later an addendum briefly gave the details. Later writers have considered the case more sympathetically, and have linked Hylton's treatment to his background of deprivation and to judicial intransigence. Family background and early life Hylton was born on 29 March 1905, in Kingston, Jamaica. He was brought up in difficult family circumstances, in the lower strata of Jamaican society, not knowing who his father was. His mother died when he was three years old, and he was raised by his sister, who died when he was barely a teenager. His education was intermittent and