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A pet dog helped solve a notorious 160-year-old murder case after digging up a bottle of poison buried in the garden.
Stanley the Labrador unearthed the Victorian-era blue vial under his lawn in Clyst Honiton, Devon.
His owner Paul Phillips, 49, thought it was a pipe – until he saw the words ‘Not To Be Taken’ on the glass.
It is believed to be linked to a famous murder case from 1865, which saw a woman who used to live two doors down to him, Mary Ann Ashford, murder her husband William.
She poisoned his tea so she could inherit his money and be with her young lover – who worked for her husband.
Ashford was later hanged in front of 20,000 people, but her execution almost went wrong and it took her several minutes to die.
It was said to have turned opinion on public hangings and was key in ending them in Britain.
Mr Phillips 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.
Stanley the Labrador unearthed the Victorian-era blue vial under his lawn in Clyst Honiton, Devon
The bottle is believed to be linked to a famous murder case from 1865, which saw a woman who used to live two doors down to him, Mary Ann Ashford, murder her husband William
‘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.’
Mr Phillips researched the bottle, which revealed it was from Victorian times and was widely used from the mid-19th century.
Recalling hearing about a historic hanging in the village, he then found an old newspaper article about the case, which revealed the couple had lived next door to the village’s police station.
He said: ‘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?
Mr Phillips researched the bottle recovered from his garden (pictured) which revealed it was from Victorian times and was widely used from the mid-19th century
Since discovering the bottle, Stanley has stopped digging up the spot in the garden, owner Mr Phillips said
‘The fact there was a murder due to poisoning 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 as executed in front of the County Gaol at Exeter before a crowd estimated to be 20,000 on Wednesday the 28th of March, 1866.
She was killed 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 the 4th of November 1865’, local media reported.
She is said to have 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, with his wife the sole beneficiary of his will.
She was hoping to use this money to set up home with her lover Frank Pratt.
Newspaper reports suggest Will started feeling ill and was regularly given medicine for undiagnosable sickness.
He suddenly died and his wife was arrested by the police officer living next door.
Tests later showed his wife had traces of arsenic and strychnine on her clothes.
Mr Phillips said the ‘brutal’ story about Mary’s killing her has left him not wanting to keep the bottle inside the house.
He added: ‘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.’
Mr Phillips said 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.