AN 18 year old soldier serving at Malvern's Merebrook Camp was sentenced to death in 1950 for shooting a colleague.

After considering their verdict for an hour and 35 minutes, the jury at Worcester Assizes found Sapper William Herbert Cook, of No. 1 Training Regiment, Royal Engineers, guilty of the murder of Cpl Samuel Dunlop, who was aged 28 and came from Belfast, on September 15.

The jury added a strong recommendation for mercy.

They had heard how Cook had suffered from a stammer which had made his life in the Army a difficult one.

On the day of the shooting Cpl Dunlop had told Cook he was to be on fire picket duty for the second night running. This involved at least two hours peeling potatoes.

Later Cook was sitting on his bed wiping his rifle when he heard Cpl Dunlop.

He got up, carrying his rifle and put a cartridge in the magazine. Cook pointed the rifle at Cpl Dunlop and pulled the trigger but the cartridge jammed.

Cpl Dunlop asked what he was doing and Cook replied: "You'll know when it hits you".

Cook worked the cartridge into place and fired again, and Cpl Dunlop fell mortally wounded.

The court heard that Cook had only been in the camp 16 days.

In a statement he said: "I was on my bed feeling in a bad mood. I had been detailed for fire picket, I like to get out of the camp at the weekends for the change of atmosphere. We have been chased around by Cpl Dunlop for the last fortnight. He had been chasing us from morning until night. I decided to do something to him on the spur of the moment".

Cook told the court he thought Cpl Dunlop was a good soldier: "I did not wish to kill Cpl Dunlop or do him any harm. I was dazed all the time it happened," he said.

Merebrook Camp's adjutant Capt Richard Everton was asked about the camp's disciplinary regime by Norman Carr, who defended Mr Cook.

"Last week you had six or eight courts-martial and three reports in the papers of civil court proceedings in which the defendants were from your camp. Do you regard it as satisfactory," asked Mr Carr?

Capt Everton replied that he didn't think so in the circumstances.

The trial was on October 20 and Cook's execution was fixed for November 8 at Birmingham Prison.

In the event he was granted a reprieve by the Home Secretary after more than 50,000 people, including the mayor of his home town of Hull, sent in a petition on his behalf.

Family and friends were still bungling up yet more petition signatures when the news arrived.

"We are overwhelmed with joy," said his father.

During the week of the trial a second Merebrook sapper, a 19 year old from Leeds, was also charged with the murder of Lance Corporal Alan James Botting, aged 19, after a shooting incident at the camp on September 23.