In the early 1950's, homosexuallity was illegal in the United Kingdom, so when Turing called the police to his house after a break-in, he admitted to police that he had had a sexual relationship with the perpertrator, 19-year-old Arnold Murray. This occured on January 23, 1952 when Turing would have been 36. He was then charged with gross indecency and following his arrest, was forced to choose between temporary probation with hormonal treatment, or imprisonment. He decided to go with the hormonal treatment, and soon underwent chemical castration through injections of a synthetic estrogen hormone for a year.
Turing died on June 7, 1954 from cyanide poisoning. The remains of an apple were found next to next to his body, however no traces of apple were found in his stomach during the postmortem exam. In the end, the death was ruled a suicide. Following a petition started by John Graham-Cumming, then- Prime Minister, Gordon Brown releaded a statement on September 10, 2009 on behalf of the British government, apologizing to Turing for prosecuting him as a homosexual.