Petty treason.

An encyclopedia entry for "petty treason" is presented. It offers information on people who are convicted for treason in Great Britain. Until 1790, the practice was for the executioner to strangle the women prisoner first before burning her body at the stake. Although Catherine Hayes was strangled first on May 9, 1726, she was still alive when she was burned at the pyre. However, a petty crime committed by writer William Joyce overseas in 1941, earned the ire of the British court which ordered his hanging on January 3, 1946.