Alan Turing given Royal pardon

Ed Miliband has announced that a Labour government would pass a “Turing’s law” allowing the relatives of deceased gay men convicted under now-repealed indecency laws to obtain a pardon.

The family of Wilmslow codebreaker Alan Turing have been campaigning for pardons for 49,000 other men persecuted like him for their homosexuality.

Turing, whose work cracking the German military codes was vital to the British war effort against Nazi Germany, was convicted in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man.

He was given a postumous royal pardon in 2013.

Under the Labour plan, the family and friends of dead men would be able to apply to the Home Office to have gross indecency convictions quashed where they involved consensual same-sex relationships

Under legislation passed three years ago people still alive with convictions of this kind can already have them expunged from the record.

The family of Alan Turing have been to Downing Street to demand pardons for thousands of men prosecuted for being gay.

The Second World War code-breaker from Wilmslow was convicted over his sexuality. He was given a posthumous royal pardon two years ago.

His great-niece Rachel Barnes handed in a petition, with almost 500,000 signatures. She, and her son Tom, told ITV News that the family have had an incredible year and hope awareness surrounding Alan Turing can help thousands of other families.

The family of Wilmslow codebreaker Alan Turing will visit Downing Street today to demand the Government pardons 49,000 other men persecuted like him for their homosexuality.

Turing, whose work cracking the German military codes was vital to the British war effort against Nazi Germany, was convicted in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man.

He was given a postumous royal pardon in 2013.

Read: Alan Turing given Royal pardon

Turing's great-niece and great-niece will hand over the petition, which attracted almost half-a-million signatures.

The family of Wilmslow codebreaker Alan Turing will visit Downing Street on Monday to demand the Government pardons 49,000 other men persecuted like him for their homosexuality.

Turing, whose work cracking the German military codes was vital to the British war effort against Nazi Germany, was convicted in 1952 for gross indecency with a 19-year-old man.

He was chemically castrated, and two years later died from cyanide poisoning in an apparent suicide.

He was given a posthumous royal pardon in 2013 and campaigners want the Government to pardon all the men convicted under the same outdated law.

Read: Alan Turing given Royal pardon

Turing's great-nephew, Nevil Hunt, his great-niece, Rachel Barnes, and her son, Thomas, will hand over the petition, which was signed by almost half-a-million people.

A letter sent from Alan Turing to his mathematician friend Norman Routledge shows the codebreaker's worries and "distress" ahead of pleading guilty to gross indecency in 1952.

An excerpt from the communication is printed on the website Letters of Note, citing a Turing biography by Andrew Hodges.

Campaigner William Jones, who began the petition to give Alan Turing a Royal pardon in 2011, has said he is "very happy" about today's news.

Talking about the Royal pardon, he said:

John Leech, the Liberal Democrat MP for Manchester Withington has been a leading figure in the campaign to pardon Alan Turing.

The gay computer pioneer was convicted of gross indecency in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK.

Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon.

The mathematician from Wilmslow was convicted under homophobic laws in the 1950s.

Turing saved thousands of lives through his code breaking work in the Second World War.

Dr Turing, who died aged 41 in 1954 and is often described as the father of modern computing, has been granted a pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy by the Queen following a request from Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.

For more, read: Centenary of the local inventor of the modern computer

The Cambridge mathematician Alan Turing who saved thousands of lives through his code breaking work in the Second World War, is expected to be given a parliamentary pardon.

Turing, who was prosecuted and convicted over his homosexuality in the 1950s, has already received a posthumous apology.

The MP for Milton Keynes South, Iain Stewart, says a pardon would be 'a final cleansing of the wrong' done to Turing, as Alistair Nelson reports.