 Colin Campbell Ross , an Australian wine @-@ bar owner , was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of 12 @-@ year @-@ old Alma Tirtschke in December 1921 . The case , dubbed the Gun Alley Murder , was heavily influenced by public hysteria at the time , which ultimately served to condemn him . Despite his pleas of innocence ( including an attempt whereby a letter was thrown over the gaol walls ) , he was executed by hanging in the gaol in April 1922 ( only 115 days after the body was found ) . A new four @-@ strand rope was used for the first time at the execution , and proved to be a failure ; Ross slowly strangled for more than forty minutes before his death . A prison report later ruled that such a rope must never be used again . He was posthumously pardoned on 27 May 2008 . 
