On 10 May 1941, flew to Scotland in an effort to persuade the British
to sue for peace. The British held him incommunicado for the rest of
the war.
Found with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck, his death was ruled a suicide. However, his family claims that Hess was in fact murdered. The warden that Hess befriended, Eugene Bird, also voiced concern that Hess was murdered.
At Nuremberg, he was the highest-level Nazi official acquitted of war
crimes and crimes against humanity, thus avoiding the death penalty. He
was convicted of three counts of conspiracy and of crimes against the
peace on 1 October 1946 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Served out his sentence at Spandau Prison in West Berlin, which was set
aside to house Nazi war criminals. He became the only inmate in 1966,
following the release of Albert Speer. During their months on guard duty the
Soviet guards were as interested in watching the nearby British Army
barracks as they were the prison.