Mary Wilson

Mary Wilson, a pleasant enough woman born in the early 20th Century, gradually became a money-hungry killer.

She was married to John Knowles for 43 years. But not soon after their marriage did she have a secret lover, John Russell. Both men were quite wealthy. All of a sudden in 1957 both her husband and her lover died suddenly of "natural causes". Both of them left their fortunes to Mary. By June 1957, 64 year-old Mary had married a wealthy retired estate agent, Oliver Leonard. Within 12 days of their marriage, Leonard was taken ill. By the next morning he was dead. Apparently he died of heart failure, leaving his entire fortune to Mary. She very quickly moved in with a man called Ernest Wilson, who had £100 in the Co-Op and a fully paid life insurance. Almost immediately he was taken ill and died on "Cardiac Muscular Failure".

Police soon became suspicious of Mary. Leonard's and Wilson's body's were exhumed and examined. The pathologist confirmed that they had been poisoned with phosphorous. Mary was arrested. She was tried and found guilty of both murders and sentenced to death. However due to her age she was given clemency and sent to a women's prison, where she served four and a half years before dying at the age of seventy.