Bentley and Craig

In 1952 in Croydon town

The streets still scarred from the war

November that year food was scarcely off the ration

Two boys went out to rob a store

Two young boys went out to rob a store

Christopher Craig he was just sixteen

Derek Bentley he was nineteen

Craig had a Colt .45 in his pocket

Made him feel more like a man

Up on the roof of Barlow and Parker

Somebody saw them there

In a matter of minutes the police had arrived

When they heard the bell you bet them boys were scared

Craig he shouted, "I've got a gun!"

And he thought about the movies that he'd seen

And at Fell Road station the rifles out were signed

And police were soon back at the scene

Some of the police had got up onto the roof

Derek Bentley knew he never could escape

So he gave himself up and was put under arrest

And he begged his young friend Chris to do the same,

so people say

"Give me the gun," the sergeant said

"Let him have it, Chris," poor Bentley cried

And a shot rang out, tore the night in two

On that dirty roof a brave policeman died

Guilty of this murder both these boys were found

Craig was too young, not yet a man

Though he was under arrest when the fatal shot was

fired

Derek Bentley was judged old enough to hang

Derek, he was judged to be a man

Wandsworth jail, January twenty third

They took that poor boy's life

Some people shouted, some people prayed

Some people hung their heads and cried

And the mother, she just hung her head and cried

All of you who sanctioned that boy's death

There's one thing left you could do

You could pardon Derek Bentley who never took a life

For Derek Bentley, he can never pardon you

Derek Bentley, he can never pardon you