In 1944, Londoner Jane Rebecca Yorke was the last person to be convicted under what legislation?

Jane Rebecca Yorke (27 January 1872 – 1953) was an English medium who was the last person convicted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. In 1944 she was arrested and convicted of being a witch because of claims she was defrauding the public by exploiting wartime fears. During séances with Yorke, undercover police were told to ask about non-existent family members. Yorke provided elaborate details on them (which she claimed had been provided by her spirit guide) such as telling an officer that his non-existent brother had been burned alive on a bombing mission. Yorke’s alleged spirit guide was a Zulu and she also frequently claimed to summon Queen Victoria.

She was arrested in July, 1944. At her trial in September at London’s Central Criminal Court she was found guilty on seven counts against the Witchcraft Act of 1735. Yorke was fined £5 and placed on good behavior for three years, promising she would hold no more séances. Another woman was also tried and convicted of witchcraft that year – Helen Duncan of Scotland – wrongly referred to as the last witch. The Witchcraft Act was repealed in the UK in 1951, but is still in force in Israel which retains much of its pre-independence law – the penalty in Israel is 2 years imprisonment.