John Martin Scripps was a British man convicted of one murder, in Singapore, and executed there on April 19, 1996. A court found him guilty of killing a South African tourist in March 1995. The same month, two Canadian tourists, a mother and her adult son, died on the Thai island of Phuket. Scripps was arrested at Changi International Airport on March 19, 1995, carrying their passports, and Thai authorities wanted him in connection with their deaths. He was never tried for them. The case therefore rests on one conviction, with two further deaths that were investigated, linked to him in the press and never put before a court.
Few personal details of Scripps's life are on record. United Press International gave his age as 35 when he was sentenced in November 1995, and Amnesty International gave it as 36 when it announced his coming execution in April 1996. Capital Punishment UK, a specialist history site, says he had been serving a 13-year sentence in Britain for drug trafficking and that he fled the country while on unescorted home leave from prison. The date of his departure and the years of his earlier convictions are not on record. A newspaper report on his sentencing described him as a man who had spent much of his adult life in jail for petty crimes and drug offenses. The South China Morning Post, in March 1995, said he had also used the names Simon Davis and Rupert Bola.
On March 8, 1995, Scripps met a South African tourist at Changi International Airport. The man was 33, according to UPI's account of the trial, and he died that day.
The prosecution argued that Scripps killed him in order to take his money, and the judge later accepted that argument. After the death, Scripps used the man's credit cards to obtain cash, as much as $7,000 according to the trial account, and to buy goods that included a video cassette recorder.
Between the death in Singapore and his arrest, Scripps traveled to Phuket. Two Canadian tourists from Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a woman of 49 and her son, died there in March 1995. UPI gave the son's age as 23; the South China Morning Post, writing in March 1995, gave it as 21. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were following the Thai and Singapore investigations. Their passports were among the documents Scripps carried when he returned to Singapore.
Capital Punishment UK reports that Thai authorities had issued extradition warrants for him. The Spokesman-Review, compiling wire reports on November 10, 1995, said he was wanted in Thailand over the deaths of the woman and her son. No charge against him in a Thai court is on record, and no Thai trial took place. The same newspaper reported that he had also been linked to the death of a British vacationer in Cancun, Mexico.
Scripps was arrested on March 19, 1995, when he landed at Changi International Airport on a flight from Phuket. UPI reported that police found the South African tourist's passport, credit cards and other belongings on him. The South China Morning Post reported that the Canadians' passports were in his bags as well.
Capital Punishment UK dates the formal charge of murder to September 18, 1995. It was a charge for the one death in Singapore. He was not charged in Singapore over the deaths in Thailand.
His trial opened on October 2, 1995, before Justice T. S. Sinnathuray in the High Court of Singapore. Capital cases there were heard by a judge sitting alone, without a jury. Deputy Public Prosecutor Jennifer Marie led the case against him, and Edmond Pereira appeared for the defense. Scripps did not enter a formal plea; he claimed trial, according to Capital Punishment UK.
At trial Scripps admitted that he had caused the tourist's death. He said he had acted in fear and rage after being provoked, and his lawyer asked the court to substitute manslaughter for murder. UPI reported that he also spoke of a British friend in Singapore, whom he declined to name, saying that he feared for his family if he did so.
The prosecution rejected this account. Ms. Marie told the court that Scripps befriended tourists, took their money and credit cards, and killed them. Capital Punishment UK quotes a defense lawyer, Joseph Theseira, as saying that the prosecution also wanted to introduce evidence linking the killings in Thailand. What the court ruled on that evidence is not on record.
Justice Sinnathuray delivered his verdict on November 10, 1995. He found Scripps guilty of murder and rejected the request for manslaughter. UPI quoted him as saying: "I do not accept the evidence of (Scripps) that there was a sudden fight," and "I also altogether reject his evidence that he had a British friend in Singapore." He accepted the prosecution's case that the motive was money, pointing to the use of the dead man's credit cards afterward. Capital Punishment UK records the finding as a killing "to conceal a planned robbery."
Murder carried a mandatory death sentence in Singapore, and the judge passed it. He ended with the words "May the Lord have mercy on your soul," UPI reported. The conviction was for the one death in Singapore.
Scripps filed an appeal in November 1995. UPI reported on January 5, 1996, that he had dropped it; his lawyer had told the Supreme Court of the decision the month before, and no reason was given. The agency noted that only presidential clemency could now save him.
Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal on April 15, 1996, naming him as John Martin, aged 36, sentenced to death in November 1995 for the murder of a South African tourist. It reported that he had decided not to appeal and not to petition the president for clemency, and that the execution was set for dawn on Friday, April 19, 1996. Capital Punishment UK gives a different account of the clemency stage: that his mother petitioned the president in February 1996 and that the petition was rejected in March.
John Martin Scripps was executed at Changi Prison on April 19, 1996. Amnesty International reported that day that he had been executed as scheduled. Capital Punishment UK states that the execution took place at 6 a.m., that two Singaporean men convicted of drug offenses were executed at the same time, and that he was the first Westerner executed in Singapore for murder. The same page adds that the British government said it opposed the death penalty but had no legal grounds to intervene.
The Canadian mother and son died in Phuket in March 1995. No court in any country has convicted anyone of causing their deaths. Scripps was carrying their passports when he was arrested, and Thai authorities wanted him in connection with the case. The Singapore trial concerned the death of the South African tourist alone. The deaths in Phuket are, in legal terms, matters that investigators and the press linked to him; they are not convictions.
The number of victims. The South China Morning Post, in March 1995, reported that he was linked to five deaths and two other cases across three continents. UPI said that bank and police records linked him to cases in Mexico and the United States. None of these links led to a charge or a conviction.
Dates. Accounts give two dates for his departure for Phuket: three days after his arrival in Singapore on March 8, or March 15.
Ages. UPI gave the South African tourist's age as 33 and Capital Punishment UK as 32. The Canadian son's age was given as 23 by UPI and as 21 by the South China Morning Post.
Clemency. Amnesty International says he chose not to seek it; Capital Punishment UK says his mother filed a petition that the president rejected.
March 8, 1995: Scripps meets a South African tourist at Changi International Airport; the tourist dies in Singapore that day. March 1995: Two Canadian tourists, a mother and her son, die in Phuket. March 19, 1995: Scripps is arrested at Changi International Airport on arrival from Phuket. September 18, 1995: Charged with one count of murder. October 2, 1995: Trial opens in the High Court of Singapore before Justice T. S. Sinnathuray. November 10, 1995: Found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. January 5, 1996: his appeal is reported dropped. April 15, 1996: Amnesty International issues an urgent appeal about his planned execution. April 19, 1996: Executed at Changi Prison.