The last person to be executed at the Tower of London was Josef Jakobs, a German spy during World War II. Jakobs, a former sergeant in the German army, was captured after parachuting into Huntingdonshire, England, in January 1941. He had broken his ankle during the landing and was quickly discovered by local farmers. After a brief trial by a military court, he was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death. On August 15, 1941, he was executed by a firing squad composed of members of the Scots Guards. Interestingly, because of his broken ankle, Jakobs could not stand to face the firing squad; he was famously executed while tied to a brown Windsor chair, which is still preserved today in the Tower's collection. While the Tower is historically famous for the beheadings of royalty like Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the execution of Jakobs marked the final chapter of the Tower's 900-year history as a site of state-sanctioned death. Following this event, the Tower ceased to be used for executions, eventually transitioning fully into the museum and historic landmark it is today.