A Devon man believes his dog has unearthed a piece of evidence connected to a notorious Victorian murder. Paul Phillips, 49, said his labrador Stanley dug up a blue glass bottle marked “Not to be taken” from their garden in Clyst Honiton.
The discovery reminded Phillips of an article about the 1865 poisoning of William Ashford by his wife, Mary Ann Ashford. Further research suggested the couple may have lived next door. Mary Ann was hanged at Exeter in front of 20,000 people; the bungled execution is thought to have contributed to the end of public hangings in England.
Phillips told Devon Live: “I thought it was a really interesting and beautiful thing when I cleaned it up and just remembered something about the murder. I searched the internet and it came up with Clyst Honiton and Mary Ann’s hanging. It could have been the bottle she used.”
Stanley repeatedly returned to the same garden spot, despite repairs. After recovering the bottle, Phillips identified it as a mid-19th-century blue poison bottle. Online newspaper accounts allege Mary Ann had an affair with a man 22 years younger and plotted to kill her husband for inheritance.
Mary Ann Ashford was convicted of murder by arsenic poisoning. Her trial at Devon Lent Assizes on 16 March 1866 saw a guilty verdict in minutes. Phillips noted: “We believe we live next door to the property resided by William and Mary Ann Ashford in 1865.”
