Ludovic Kennedy

12.00.00am GMT Sat 7th Nov 2009

Ludovic Kennedy, who died recently at the age of 89.

HSLD is sad to learn of the death of Ludovic Kennedy at the age of 89. He was both a committed secularist and a prominent Liberal Democrat campaigner. He first came to public notice as a campaigning journalist. He made a huge contribution towards the abolition of the death penalty in Britain through his rigorous investigations into miscarriages of justice, particularly the case of Timothy Evans - who was wrongly hanged for the murder of his wife at 10 Rillington Place.

In 1958 he stood in a Parliamentary by-election in Rochdale coming second with over 35% of the vote in a seat not fought by the Liberals at the previous election.

A lifelong atheist, he published All In The Mind: A Farewell To God in 1999, in which he discussed his philosophical objections to religion. He was a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association; and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

He was a vigorous campaigner for assisted dying and moved the 1997 motion at the Liberal Democrat Conference that brought the issue to the Conference floor.