The Potton Poisoner

From 1836 all defendants were legally entitled to be represented by a barrister and so Sarah was represented in Court by a Mr O’Malley who told the Court that she had administered the poison to William accidentally which was inconsistent with the two earlier tale she’d told, that she had no knowledge of any poisoning and later, that she’d given William the poison to avenge the deaths of her first husband and her only child. 

The defence didn’t hold up well.  Two chemists were called to the witness stand and confirmed that they’d sold arsenic to Sarah a short while before William had died and Sarah’s ‘friend’ Mrs Carver came forward and told the Court that she’d seen the accused throw the pills that Dr Sandell had administered into the hedgerow and replace them with some others. 

Ann Mead was also called and told the Court that she’d seen Sarah ‘rolling her own’.  Even William Waldock, Sarah’s ex-fiancé, came up to bear witness – he told the Court that a short time before William’s demise Sarah had told him that she and William had had a spat and that she’d ‘do for any man that ever hit her’.

Forensic evidence was presented to the Court which showed that William had died from arsenic poisoning.  Unfortunately for Sarah, just seven years earlier James Marsh had discovered it was possible, by chemical means, to detect when arsenic had been administered and that it could be detected in human remains several years after death.  Arsenic was widely available from chemists and following James Marsh’s findings, it was discovered that so many people were being murdered by arsenic poisoning that the Arsenic Act was passed in 1851 which prevented the sale of arsenic over the counter to strangers and the names of the purchasers were placed on a register.   The arsenic also had to be mixed with soot or indigo to make it easily detectable if added to food or drink.  Sarah’s case was in fact one of the earliest Court cases in which the Marsh test was considered admissible.

The jury retired and it only took them half an hour to put forward a verdict of guilty of murder and so the Judge, Baron Alderson, passed the death sentence on Sarah and she returned to Bedford prison to await her fate.  She apparently spent her time learning to read and took to reading the Bible in order to gain some comfort.  She kept herself very much to herself and didn’t converse much with her fellow inmates.  She spent a lot of her time sobbing and wouldn’t eat which, amazingly, affected the very people who had taken against her – her neighbours – and they began to feel sorry for her. 

The day of Sarah’s execution arrived – Saturday 5 August 1843 – and a crowd of around 12,000 people assembled in the town to witness her hanging.  Bearing in mind it was the first execution to take place in Bedford for 10 years I suppose it shouldn’t have been unexpected as it probably made for a good family day out!

Sarah’s executioner was William Calcraft, one of the most famous and respected English executioners, and, other than asking Mr Calcraft to make her death swift, Sarah made no other comment.  According to reports in the press, Calcraft tied Sarah’s hands in front of her, made some adjustments to the noose, turned her to face away from the crowd and ordered the bolt to be withdrawn.  Sarah plunged through the floor and died almost instantly.

And so ended the life of Sarah Dazley at the grand age of 24, with four poisonings under her belt.  Quite an achievement.  Four poisonings I hear you utter – yes, four – one baby son, two husbands and let’s not forget the poor old pig!!