Dog finds ‘smoking gun’ from 160-year-old murder case buried in back garden

Stanley the Labrador dug up a blue glass vial in the back garden of his family home in Clyst Honiton, Devon (Pictures: Paul Phillips/SWNS)

The missing piece of evidence in a notorious Victorian murder case may finally have been unearthed – by a family dog.

Stanley the Labrador dug up a blue glass vial in the back garden of his family home in Clyst Honiton, Devon.

His owner Paul Phillips, 49, initially thought it was a pipe – until he noticed the words ‘Not to be taken’ spelled out down the sides.

But he soon discovered that only two doors down from them lived Mary Ann Ashford, who killed her husband William in November 1865.

She slipped poison into his tea so she could steal his money and start a new life with her young lover.

Mary Ann’s trial took place at Devon Lent Assizes on the March 16-17, 1866.

The jury spent barely a few minutes in retirement before finding her guilty and she was sentenced to death.

Her execution in front of the County Gaol at Exeter before a crowd estimated to be 20,000.

But it did not go smoothly, with reports at the time saying it took as long as three minutes – and some improvisation by the executioner – to complete.

The spectacle was said to have turned opinion on public hangings and was key in ending them in the country.

The poison bottle found in a garden in Clyst Honiton (Picture: Paul Phillips/SWNS) Stanley the Labrador unearthed the blue vial under his lawn in Clyst Honiton, Devon: Paul Phillips/SWNS)

Paul said: ‘It is fascinating that we have found a bit of history in my garden from a woman that was instrumental in the end of corporal punishment 160 years ago.

‘My dog, Stanley, has been digging in the same spot in our garden for probably about a year.

‘We kept patching up and even at one point had to put a paving slab over it but he was insistent there was something there he wanted.

‘One day I went outside and Stanley had exposed a pipe, so I got on my hands and knees, had a rummage around, did some mini-excavation and realised it was a bottle.

‘It was a bright blue bottle in perfect, mint condition and said the words, ‘Not To Be Taken’ on the glass.

‘I thought that was cool and did some research, and it came up as a Victorian poison bottle, and then thought, “oh christ”, I remember reading something about a hanging in the village years ago.

‘So I went back online and found the old newspaper article about William and Mary Ann Ashford living in Clyst Honiton in 1865 next door to the police station – which is the next door to us but one.

‘It was there I believe Mary and her husband used to live and she was having an affair with a guy that worked at the local bakery.

‘I think our property used to be a big cider barn and there would have been more land.

‘But it is so weird, if you had bought that bottle for the right reasons – like killing rats or something – why would you bother burying it?

The blue poison bottles began being used in the mid-19th century (Picture: Paul Phillips/SWNS)

‘The fact there was a murder due to poising in the next door down from us – you have to put two and two together!

‘The fact it was buried and not thrown away shows someone was trying to hide it.’

Mary died on Wednesday March 28, 1866, for the ‘murder by arsenic poisoning of her husband of 20 years, 45 year old William at their home at Honiton Clyst in Devon on November 4, 1865″.

News reports salaciously stated she killed him to ‘indulge a guilty passion for one of his workmen’.

William Ashford was a shoemaker by trade and had an estate valued at £120, Mary Ann being the sole beneficiary of his will.

She was hoping to use this money to set up home with Frank Pratt.

Newspaper reports suggest Will started feeling ill and was regularly given medicine for undiagnosable sickness.

He suddenly died and Mary was arrested by the police officer living next door.

Tests later showed his wife had traces of arsenic and strychnine on her clothes.

Paul said the ‘brutal’ story about Mary’s hanging has left him uneasy with the idea of keeping the bottle inside the house.

He said: ‘It was a brutal hanging so there was no way I want bottle in my home.

‘It is in the garage at the moment which is a shame because its lovely but I bet it comes with some weirdness!

‘My family are totally engrossed with the story, and the neighbour, a dear friend and councillor, loves it too.’

Paul added that Stanley has not been digging in the spot since the discovery and hopes a local historian will help the family find out more information about the unique story.

He added: ‘What is crazy is that Stanley, after he dug the bottle up, hasn’t been digging there since.

‘If there is a local historian who is interested in coming to have a chat and do a bit more digging, that would be great.’

The blue poison bottles began being used in the mid-19th century.

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