The 1990 book Let Him Have It, Chris written by M J Trow explores the inconsistencies in the police version of events. Bentley's sister Iris mounted a lifelong campaign to quash Bentley's conviction after he was executed at Wandsworth Prison in January 1953. It was clear that even if Craig was found guilty of murder, he could not be sentenced to death; being aged-16, he was below the minimum age of 18 for execution. However, Derek Bentley was over 18 years' of age and could be sentenced to death.

Now at last this case is over. My gratitude goes to those who have fought so tirelessly for justice."

Another factor in the posthumous defence was that a "confession" recorded by Bentley, which was claimed by the prosecution to be a "verbatim record of dictated monologue", was shown by forensic linguistics methods to have been largely edited by policemen. Linguist Malcolm Coulthard showed that certain patterns, such as the frequency of the word "then" and the grammatical use of "then" after the grammatical subject ("I then" rather than "then I"), were not consistent with Bentley's use of language (his idiolect), as evidenced in court testimony. [17] These patterns fit better the recorded testimony of the policemen involved. This is one of the earliest uses of forensic linguistics on record. The case appeared to be a relatively simple one for the prosecution. However, as the trial progressed before Lord Chief Justice Lord Goddard at the Old Bailey, the prosecution case appeared far less certain. The police seemed unsure how many shots were fired and by whom. A ballistics expert failed to positively identify Craig's gun as the weapon that fired the bullet that killed PC Miles. Also what was meant by Bentley's phrase "Let him have it Chris"? Did he mean that Craig was to give the gun to the officer and surrender? Did he mean that Craig was to shot the officer? Far from being homicidal, Mr Fitzgerald said Derek Bentley had shown "complete co-operation" with the police from the time of his capture.

Also known as Common Purpose, Joint Enterprise involves crimes of two or more people. The law means that a secondary offender can be prosecuted as the principal offender if they intended to assist the main offender in their crime.The jury took just 75 minutes to find both Craig and Bentley guilty of PC Miles' murder. Due to his being below 18 at the time of the offence, Craig was sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure. Bentley was sentenced to death. Kilmuir, 1st Earl of (1964). Political adventure: the memoirs of the Earl of Kilmuir. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 206. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link) I am truly sorry that my actions on 2 November 1952 caused so much pain and misery for the family of Pc Miles, who died that night doing his duty. Bentley was originally scheduled to be hanged on 30 December 1952 but this was postponed to allow for an appeal. Bentley's lawyers filed appeals highlighting the ambiguities of the ballistic evidence, Bentley's mental age and the fact that he did not fire the fatal shot. Bentley's appeal was heard on 13 January 1953 and was unsuccessful. Craig and Bentley denied that Bentley had said, 'Let him have it, Chris'. Furthermore, it was debated whether Bentley was asking Craig to hand over his weapon or whether to open fire.

The 1991 feature film Let Him Have It, starring Christopher Eccleston as Bentley and Paul Reynolds as Craig, relates the story, as do the songs "Derek Bentley" by Karl Dallas (in which the lyrics imply that Bentley was guilty but sympathise with him), " Let Him Dangle" by Elvis Costello, "Let Him Have It" by The Bureau, and "Bentley and Craig" by Ralph McTell, whose mother was a friend of the Bentley family, also covered by June Tabor (on Aleyn, TSCD490, 1997). Berry-Dee, Christopher; Odell, Robinn (1991). Dad, Help Me Please: The Story of Derek Bentley. London: W. H. Allen. ISBN 978-1-852-27131-2.Under English and Welsh law it's irrelevant whether the fatal bullet was fired by Craig or a police officer. If Craig started the shooting then he would be guilty of murder even if PC Miles had been killed accidentally by a stray bullet fired by one of his colleagues. Since Bentley's execution in January 1953, there have been numerous campaigns to obtain a posthumous pardon for Bentley. In 1991 the public were surprised when the Home Secretary of the time, Kenneth Clark, rejected a report by the Metropolitan Police stating that there were "reasonable doubts in this case" for a review.