Lord Bracknell
On fire
That's not how the death penalty has ever been applied in England and Wales.... it will be up to a jury to decide guilty or not guilty as always, but it will be up to the judge to decide whether a death sentence will follow and this will depend on how completely satisfied he is with the verdict. He doesn't have to authorise the death sentence you know he can give life imprisonment if he wants to ...
The trial was always conducted on the basis that the charge was the capital offence of murder. A guilty verdict meant that the judge was REQUIRED to pass the death sentence.
The Home Secretary had powers to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, but that decision was never based on a lack of satisfaction about the verdict. Then, as now, if the Home Secretary has doubts about the verdict, the requirement is either to acquit or secure a re-trial.