Babington and the other conspirators were quickly rounded up 
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by Walsingham. They were horribly tortured and brutally 
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executed. Mary, meanwhile, was put on trial. Faced with the 
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evidence of the coded letter in her handwriting, the verdict was 
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a forgone conclusion.
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The trial lasted just two days and Mary was sentenced to death. 
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Elizabeth had been advised to execute Mary before, but had 
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refused to do so. She was, after all, her cousin. But this time 
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Mary’s luck had run out.
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However, it wasn’t until February 7, 1587, that Mary was told 
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she would be executed the next morning. Early on February 8 
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she was led into the Great Hall at Fortheringhay Castle where, 
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in front of a crowd of 300, her head was chopped off.