<Tr> <Th> Date </Th> <Td> Early 1973 (procuring)--July 3, 1974 (murder) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Location (s) </Th> <Td> Marseilles </Td> </Tr> <P> Hamida Djandoubi (Arabic: حميدة جندوبي ‎; September 22, 1949--September 10, 1977) was a Tunisian agricultural worker and convicted murderer . He moved to Marseille, France, in 1968 and six years later he kidnapped, tortured and murdered 22 - year - old Élisabeth Bousquet, his former girlfriend . He was sentenced to death in February 1977 and executed in September that year . He was the last person to be executed in Western Europe and in the European Union and the last person legally executed by beheading in the Western world . Marcel Chevalier served as chief executioner . </P> <P> Born in Tunisia on September 22, 1949, Djandoubi started living in Marseille in 1968, working in a grocery store . He later worked as a landscaper but had a workplace accident in 1971 that resulted in the loss of two - thirds of his right leg . </P>

When was the last time someone was executed by guillotine