Owner of labrador says bottle find may be connected to poisoning that led to one of England’s last hangings
A man in Devon believes his beloved dog has dug up a key piece of evidence in his back garden connected to a notorious Victorian murder case.
Paul Phillips, 49, told reporters that his labrador, Stanley, recovered a blue glass bottle with the words “Not to be taken” written on the side from their home in Clyst Honiton.
The discovery brought to mind an article he had read about the murder by poisoning of William Ashford by his wife Mary Ann Ashford in 1865 and further research revealed the couple may have lived in a neighbouring property.
Mary Ann was reportedly hanged in Exeter in front of 20,000 people and her execution was so bungled – she took minutes to die – that it is said to have turned people off the idea of public executions and set in motion events that would ultimately lead to the end of public hangings in England in the 1860s.
