Glen Sabre Valance

Glen Valance
Born	11 February 1943 Australia
Died	24 November 1964(1964-11-24) (aged 21) Adelaide Gaol, Adelaide, South Australia
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Other names	Graham Paul Fraser
Occupation	Station Hand
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	Murder
Criminal penalty	Death

Glen Sabre Valance (born Graham Paul Fraser; 11 February 1943 – 24 November 1964) was an Australian murderer. He was the last man executed in South Australia when he was hanged in Adelaide Gaol for the murder of Richard Strang.

Early life

Born Graham Paul Fraser, he changed his name as a teenager to Glen Sabre Valance after Liberty Valance, the title character of a 1962 western film.

Crime

In the early hours of 16 June 1964, Valance tied up three station hands at the Koonroon property near Bordertown, South Australia then entered the bedroom of Richard and Suzanne Strang. Valance shot and killed Richard as he slept and then raped his wife. Valance escaped by car and drove towards Adelaide. Suzanne called the police and Valance was captured at a road block near Murray Bridge. The rifle was in the car with him.

Trial and execution

Dates of last executions & abolition

Valance claimed he had a grievance with Richard Strang: he once worked for Strang, but was sacked after being accused of theft. Strang had legal proceedings against Valance accusing him of theft, while Valance claimed Strang had owed him money and refused to pay, further blaming Strang for having his car repossessed.

Valance pleaded insanity, but was found guilty and sentenced to death by South Australian state Chief Justice Sir Mellis Napier on 17 September 1964. The Supreme Court of South Australia dismissed his appeal on 9 October and a further application to the High Court of Australia for leave to appeal was rejected on 9 November. The death sentence was carried out on 24 November 1964. Valance was hanged at Adelaide jail in a guard tower that had been converted into an execution facility by the installation of a gallows in 1950 (the "Hanging Tower") and was the newest gallows in Australia after the one at Fannie Bay, Darwin (1952). The gallows survives, and the date 24 November 1964 and the letters GSV still remain painted on the inner perimeter wall above the grave, in the area of the prison set aside for burial of executed prisoners.

Valance was the last man executed in South Australia, and the second to last in Australia; the last was Ronald Ryan, who was executed in Victoria on 3 February 1967.

Further reading

• Hanged: Executions in Australia, Main, J..
• A Tormented Soul, Lillian Clavell. ISBN 1-921829-74-5

External links

• Adelaide Gaol website