#4830 Spencer Perceval Assassination Britain’s only serving PM to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval, aged 49, shot though the chest on 11 May 1812. His killer, John Bellingham, an aggrieved merchant, was executed for the offence but only after his defence team had failed to secure the insanity plea. Judge Mansfield ordered the jury at his trial, held a meagre 4 days after the event, to entertain mitigation only on the 'distinct and unquestionable evidence that the prisoner