World War Two code breaker Alan Turing set to be pardoned for his gay conviction [View all]

[The Straight Story]

The Government said it would not stand in the way of legislation to offer a full Parliamentary pardon for Turing, who helped Britain to win the Second World War as a skilled code-breaker.

Until now, the Government has resisted using the Royal Prerogative to pardon Turing for his conviction for gross indecency in 1952 because he was a homosexual.

Ministers had argued that because Turing was convicted of what was at the time a criminal offence, it is not possible to hand him a full posthumous pardon.

For years, campaigners have called on ministers to reverse the decision because of the part he played in winning the war after he invented the Colossus machine at Bletchley Park to crack the codes of German U-boats in the Atlantic.

Despite his work, he was convicted of gross indecency and as his punishment he chose chemical castration over imprisonment. Two years later he committed suicide at the age of 41.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10191547/World-War-Two-code-breaker-Alan-Turing-set-to-be-pardoned-for-his-gay-conviction.html