King Henry VII’s step-uncle William Stanley should have been one of his greatest supporters but he had tied himself in a plot to get the pretender Perkin Warbecj on the throne instead of the Tudor King. He may have partly done so because he believed (falsely) that a confession would have him escape execution. And while the king did relent on the decision, he did decide that treasonous attacks should never go unpunished and he was ultimately executed.