Murder, Mystery and My Family

Original version

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: Crime & Justice

Top criminal barristers Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein reinvestigate historical cases.

Series 5

BBC Two

BBC One London

London

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One North West

BBC One West Midlands

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

BBC One Yorkshire

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Oxfordshire

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One Wales

Wales

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Sasha Wass

Jeremy Dein

James Pearson

Clare Wales

Mike Benson

Simon Cooper

Johanna Scammell

Michael Klokkos

Chalkboard TV

Murder, Mystery and My Family: Series 5: Lefley

Lefley

BBC One - Murder, Mystery and My Family, Series 5, Lefley

Sasha and Jeremy examine a case of arsenic poisoning in rural Lincolnshire in 1882.

Sasha and Jeremy examine a case from 1882, where a wife was accused of murdering her husband with an arsenic-laced rice pudding that contained enough poison to kill fifty people.

Criminal barristers Sasha Wass QC and Jeremy Dein QC investigate a murder case from rural Lincolnshire in which a wife was accused of murdering her husband with arsenic.  

Wrangle, Lincolnshire, 1884. On a winter’s afternoon, cottager William Lefley arrived at his local doctor's surgery in agonising pain. He had just eaten a rice pudding prepared by his wife Mary, and made the dramatic accusation that she had poisoned him. He was taken back to their cottage, and local villagers came to his aid, but by 9pm, William was dead.  

Blame quickly fell on William’s wife Mary, who had made the ‘poisoned pudding’, and within 48 hours, she was arrested and charged with murder. The poisoned rice pudding was sent for analysis and was found to have contained enough arsenic to poison 50 people.

Mary’s trial began on 7 May 1884. Although she protesting her innocence, it took the jury just 35 minutes to find her guilty, and the judge sentenced her to death. On 26 May 1884, at Lincoln county jail, Mary Lefley was hanged. 

Today, nearly 140 years later, Martin, who is related to Mary through his grandfather, is exploring her case along with another of Mary’s relatives, Brenda. They have enlisted the help of the two barristers to re-examine the case to find out if it could potentially have been a miscarriage of justice. The prosecution case against Mary was a controversial one that consisted of accusatory village gossip and the damning testimony of her husband. But with William known to have previously threatened to take his own life, was the case really as straightforward as it seemed?  

Sasha and Jeremy will seek advice from modern experts on both the era and the toxicology evidence. Will they be able to convince judge David Radford that this conviction, which has stood for nearly a century and a half, is actually unsafe?

Murder, Mystery and My Family: Series 5

BBC One

Barristers Jeremy Dein and Sasha Wass re-examine historic murder cases.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Murder, Mystery and My Family

Series 5

Lefley

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

About BBC One