Straw is urged to pardon witches

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Campaigners hope evidence of eight grave "miscarriages of justice" will persuade the Justice Secretary to take action.

A copy of the petition will also be sent to Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

More than 400 people were put to death in England for alleged witchcraft, and more than 2,000 executed in Scotland, before the 1735 Witchcraft Act put an end to the trials, they said.

Their bid to get justice for the victims follows an official pardon granted earlier this year by the Swiss government to Anna Goeldi, beheaded in 1782 and regarded as the last person executed as a witch in Europe.

The family behind costume firm Angels came up with the idea for the petition and asked historian Dr John Callow to collect some of the victims' stories.

Dr Callow, editor of Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Europe, said it was time to recognise the witch trials as "most dangerous and tragic" fabrications.

"Today we are well aware that these individuals were neither capable of harmful magic nor in league with the devil," he said.

"At the time, poverty was endemic - charity was breaking down and aggressive begging, accompanied by threats or curses, was common. Crops failed, butter failed to churn or cattle sickened and the blame was often settled on witches.

"Against such a background, judiciaries across the British Isles were compelled to act. The results were perjury and delusion on a grand scale, resulting in nothing less than legalised murder."