This story is about former Jamaican fast bowler Leslie George Hilton who played 6 Test matches for West Indies between 1935 and 1939. Born on March 29, 1905, Hilton was a strong candidate to be part of the West Indies cricket team but was overlooked for unknown reasons. But he continued to work hard and finally in 1935 he selected in the West Indian team against the English team that toured the West Indies.
On 8 January 1935, he made his Test debut against England and helped West Indies win the four-match Test series.
He then selected again for the tour of England in 1939. But later dropped from the team due to being out of form, after which Hilton retired from first-class cricket.
In 1942, Leslie George Hilton married with a police inspector daughter Lorraine Rose. And the couple had a son in 1947.
According to Ports, in the early 1950s, Hilton’s wife went to fashion school in New York to become a fashion designer. Where she met a young man, Roy Francis, and later began an alleged affair.
However, in 1954, Hilton found out about his wife’s affair in an alleged letter, and there was a quarrel between the two. He got angry and shot his wife dead, and then arrested by the police.
Leslie maintained that the wife first tried to shoot him but the bullet misfired, the ex-cricketer fired in self-defence.
In late 1954, a jury reportedly found Hilton guilty. Despite pleas for mercy, the judge sentenced the former West Indian cricketer to death. But after appeals and pleas, Hilton hanged on 17 May 1955.
George Hilton is the only cricketer in the world to have been hanged. Hilton took 16 wickets and scored 70 runs in 6 Test matches for West Indies.