Almost too weak to stand, 22-year-old Jane Scott was carried to the gallows at Lancaster Castle. She was to hang for the murder of her parents, a crime that shocked Georgian Preston. But how did an ordinary young woman come to such an end?
The beginning
One of three children, Jane was born into a modest but respectable household. Her father, John Scott, was a Methodist preacher and shopkeeper and Jane later said her parents had been kind and brought her up well.
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However, when she was 15, Jane fell pregnant. She claimed to have been seduced by a local man. Her son was baptised in 1821, but his fate is unknown. Soon after, she began to drink, steal from her parents and drift from her family’s faith. Jane gave birth twice more in 1824 and again in 1825 but both children died in infancy. Neighbours questioned the deaths due to her lifestyle but no charges were brought.
The murder
In 1827, tragedy hit the family again when Jane’s parents, John and Mary, died.
They had been in good health in the days leading up to their death with one neighbour, Hannah Cross, having tea with Mary on the day that she died. That same evening, Hannah claimed that Jane came running to her door shouting that her parents needed help. When Hannah entered the house she saw John profusely vomiting and Mary unwell in the kitchen. Jane claimed she had been out and found them in this state when she returned. Hannah stated that in hindsight she thought Jane may be using this as an alibi.
Hannah claimed that John and Mary said to her that they had been ‘poisoned by porridge’. Jane’s half brother who attended his father’s bedside claimed that John had repeated these sentiments to him and that Jane, who apparently made the porridge, must have poisoned it.
Both died soon after the doctor was called to their home and after an investigation it was decided that their own daughter would stand trial for their murder.
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The trial
During the first murder trial, the jury were told that there were large quantities of arsenic in the house which Jane claimed was mixed with porridge oats and sugar to kill rats. This was later undermined by surgeon Dr Brown who said that he had seen no evidence of vermin in the home.
The doctor also testified that he had told Jane not to wash the porridge pot up so that it could be tested. She disobeyed and washed the pot anyway, destroying crucial evidence. Although Brown claimed John’s symptoms were consistent with arsenic poisoning and other witnesses spoke about Jane’s fractured and hostile relationship with her parents, the jury were told the evidence was circumstantial and not direct. They returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’.
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The motive
After further door-to-door enquiries, new medical and legal evidence led to a second trial, this time focusing on the death of Jane’s father, suspected to have been premeditated for financial gain.
During the second trial, new witnesses were called. This included George Richardson who testified that Jane had proposed marriage and claimed her father had transferred his property to her. This claim supported by a stamped legal paper he only vaguely understood due to semi-literate status.
Another witness, James Shorrocks, described Jane’s jealousy over Richardson’s attentions to another woman and quoted her as saying her parents ‘were going to die’ and that she would soon inherit the shop.
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The verdict
With fresh evidence of mineral deposits found in John Scott’s stomach, the prosecution argued the poisoning had been deliberate. She was found guilty. Despite Jane sitting quietly through the trial she sobbed as the judge pronounced her fate, death by hanging.
The confession
While awaiting execution, Jane made a shocking confession to her sister, she had poisoned her infant nephew with laudanum in revenge for being criticised by her sister and later killed her own son with arsenic after being abandoned by a suitor. She claimed the plan to rob her parents had come from Richardson and Shorrocks and insisted she had only meant to make them ill, not kill them.
Jane blamed her downfall on supernatural forces, saying “the Devil had possessed her” and led her astray. Her confession was repeated by her sister and recorded by the prison chaplain.
Jane was hanged on a chilly morning in March 1828 and her body remained on display for 24 hours.
Jane Scott’s story remains one of Preston’s darkest and most notorious crimes. Her life, marked by loss, jealousy, and desperate choices, ended in public execution, leaving a legacy that blurred the lines between sin, circumstance, and madness.
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