DID James Dyer connive a special deal to save himself? Possibly so.

He had been comdemned to death for his part in a vicious attack on a fellow drinker on the outskirts of Winchester.

James Beckett was their unfortunate victim.

They had been supping ale well into the evening in the Waterloo public house until the labourer set off for home. He had reached a point called Fillington's Bottom about half a mile beyond St Cross when two men suddenly overtook him and demanded his money, threatening to beat out his brains if he refused.

A third figure stood close by.

Discretion being the better part of valour Beckett never sought to argue but before he had the opportunity to hand over his valuables, he was felled by a violent blow to the head and then ruthlessly punched and kicked while lying helpless.

Beckett suddenly realised the third man was Dyer who promptly emptied his pockets of 12s in silver and relieved him of a silver watch before the trio disappeared into the night.

Beckett staggered home and though confined to his bed for a week, was able to give a clear description of Dyer. However, he was unable to furnish any details of his accomplices because it was so dark.

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Strangely no report of the drama which happened on September 2, 1825, was ever recorded in the local press and the first the general public knew of it came with Dyer's attendance at Hampshire Assizes on March 6 the following year.

The briefest details concluded with Mr Justice Gaselee denouncing the robbery as being an act of "almost unexempled cruelty" to an acquaintance and near neighbour.

"No expectation of mercy must be entertained," he warned Dyer, urging him to atone for his prolifigate life and prepare himself for the gallows.

But Dyer never made that appointment.

Within a fortnight he had been given a respite, with the Hampshire Chronicle & Southampton Courier correcting gossip he had been anything but a troublesome prisoner. Indeed his conduct had been entirely orderly and respectful to the jailers in the condemned cell where he attributed his downfall to breaking the Sabbath and poaching.

However, curiously, at the bottom of the few lines there was a strong indication a deal had been agreed because he had vital inside information.

It simply read: "It is understood that he has made certain disclosures which may eventually prove beneficial to the public...."