Bio 

Harry Lewis was born in 1927 and was 21 years old at the time of his arrest and execution. He was an illegitimate son of Annie Lewis and was placed in institutional care as a child after his mother was unable to support him. He spent part of his childhood in the Cottage Homes orphanage in Holywell, Wales, and was later sent to the Nautical Training School at Portishead during the Second World War period.

Lewis’s adult life before the murder was unstable. He had a criminal record for burglary and theft, and one account says he had been released from Wormwood Scrubs Prison on December 7, 1948, less than three weeks before the attack on Harry Michaelson. At that time, Lewis was unemployed and moving around London without a settled home. The killing that followed was not the result of any confirmed personal dispute between Lewis and Michaelson. The available evidence indicates that Lewis did not know Michaelson before entering his flat.

Murder Story

In the early hours of December 26, 1948, Harry Saul Michaelson was inside his basement flat at Furzecroft, a block of flats on George Street in Marylebone, London. Michaelson was a commercial artist and cartoonist. He lived at the flat with his wife, but she was away at the time of the attack.

According to the case account, the building’s night porter heard a cry for help in the early morning. The sound appeared to come from the basement area of the flats. When the porter investigated, he found Michaelson outside Flat 75, holding a towel to a serious wound on his forehead. Michaelson was still alive but badly injured.

Michaelson was taken to hospital in Paddington. Medical staff found that he had suffered a fractured skull and other injuries. He later underwent surgery, but his condition worsened. He died on December 27, 1948, without regaining meaningful consciousness. A later account states that the autopsy identified skull fractures and concluded that the tubular steel chair was the likely weapon used in the attack.

The police investigation initially faced difficulty because the flat did not clearly appear to be the scene of a forced burglary. There was no immediate sign of a major struggle, and investigators first considered whether Michaelson may have known the person who attacked him. However, closer examination found important forensic evidence. Police discovered fingerprints in Michaelson’s blood on a tubular steel chair believed to have been used in the assault. Those prints were later matched to Harry Lewis, who was already known to police as a thief.

Lewis was arrested on January 18, 1949. One account states that he was arrested after police stopped him and another man in St John’s Wood while they were acting suspiciously near houses. When his fingerprints were checked, they matched the prints connected to the Michaelson murder investigation.

During questioning, Lewis admitted that he had entered Michaelson’s flat through an open window. He said he had gone inside to steal and had been disturbed when Michaelson woke up. Lewis admitted picking up the chair and striking Michaelson, but he denied that he had intended to murder him. His explanation was that he used violence to escape after being caught during the burglary.

The evidence against Lewis included his own admissions and the fingerprint evidence found on the chair. The prosecution case was that the attack caused Michaelson’s fatal injuries. The defence argued that Michaelson’s death may have resulted from the hospital operation rather than from the assault itself, but this argument did not prevent a murder conviction.

Harry Lewis was tried at the Old Bailey on March 9, 1949, before Lord Chief Justice Goddard. He pleaded not guilty to murder, while not denying the burglary and assault. The jury found him guilty of murder the same day. The jury reportedly recommended mercy, but the death sentence was imposed.

Lewis’s appeal was dismissed on April 21, 1949. He was executed by hanging at HM Prison Pentonville later that same day. Capital Punishment UK’s execution list confirms that Harry Lewis, age 21, was hanged at Pentonville on April 21, 1949, for the murder of Harry Michaelson.