Mexborough & Swinton Times, January 7, 1927
Roodhouse Reprieved.
Penal Servitude For Life.
Cecil Roodhouse, the young Rotherham miner, who was sentenced to death at Leeds Assizes for the murder of his sister, Kathleen Roodhouse, at Hooton Cliff Wood, Hooton Roberts, on July 1st, 1926, has been reprieved.
His family, on Saturday, received an intimation that the Home Secretary had felt warranted, under all the circumstances, in advising His Majesty to respite capital sentence, with a view to commutation to penal servitude for life. Roodhouse who is at Armley Goal, when informed of his reprieve, made no comment.
A petition for reprieve organised by Mr. Keith Roddis, of Rotherham, solicitor, and taken up by the Mayor and other prominent Rotherham citizens, was signed by over 3,000 persons.
Roodhouse’s mother, who lives at Conisborough, when told the news, said ‘I had never given up hope, but lately I began to think that nothing could be done. It is a huge relief to me to know that I shall see my boy again. He was always a good son in the home. I shall wait for him to come out, and it will be worth waiting for.’
Roodhouse’s father was killed in the Cadeby Main explosion on July 9th, 1912.