Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale

Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale, GCB (8 July 1912, Sheffield – 27 November 2007, Windsor, Berkshire, pneumonia) was a British civil servant.

He was the son of Arthur Allen and Louie Tipper and educated at King Edward VII School in Sheffield and Queens' College, Cambridge where he read Law. He came top of his year in the Civil Service administrative examinations in 1934.

Allen joined the Home Office in 1934 and served in the War Cabinet (1943–44), then as Deputy Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (1955–60). He then became Deputy Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office (1960–62), Second Secretary at HM Treasury (1963–66), and Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office (1966–72).

As deputy chairman of the Prison Commission for England and Wales from 1950–52, he advised against a reprieve for Timothy Evans, hanged in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter at 10 Rillington Place, London. He also thought that Evans was guilty of the murder of his wife, for which Evans had not been prosecuted. Evans was pardoned in 1966 and Evans' neighbour, John Christie, was held responsible for strangling his own wife and five other women as well as Evans' wife, to which he confessed. When the Home Office files were published, Allen expressed his deep regret at the advice he had given.

Together with Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Frank Newsam, Allen unsuccessfully urged a reprieve for Derek Bentley, who was hanged aged 19 in 1953 for the murder of a policeman. Bentley, who was already under arrest at the time, had allegedly called to an armed accomplice, Christopher Craig, "Let him have it, Chris!", when they were caught in a burglary. The remark, if made, was ambiguous, possibly urging surrender of Craig's gun, rather than inciting Craig to murder. In 1998, Bentley received a posthumous pardon. Craig was imprisoned, being under-age for execution, and was later released.

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