Murder, Mystery and My Family

Original version

BBC One Yorkshire

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: Crime & Justice

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

Series 5

BBC Two

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

BBC One HD

BBC One London

London

BBC One Cambridgeshire

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

BBC One West

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One North West

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 Oxfordshire

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

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

BBC One West Midlands

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

BBC One South

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 Wales

Wales

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 Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

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

BBC One Scotland HD

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

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

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

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Sasha Wass

Jeremy Dein

James Pearson

Gary John Senior

Mike Benson

Simon Cooper

Johanna Scammell

Michael Klokkos

Chalkboard TV

Murder, Mystery and My Family: Series 5: McLachlan

McLachlan

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

Sasha and Jeremy investigate an infamous Scottish murder case from 1862.

Barristers Sasha and Jeremy investigate an infamous Scottish murder case from 1862, in which a compelling alternative suspect may have been the true killer.

Prominent criminal barristers Sasha Wass QC and Jeremy Dein QC investigate an infamous Scottish murder case from 1862. A former domestic servant was sentenced to death for killing one of her friends, despite there being a compelling alternative suspect.

Glasgow, 1862. On a summer’s afternoon, members of the affluent Fleming family returned home from holiday to discover that their housemaid Jess McPherson was missing. They eventually unlocked her bedroom door to find her dead body. She had been viciously beaten with a blunt instrument.  

A police investigation revealed that clothing and valuable silver items had been stolen from the house, and the crime scene had been cleaned. The head of the household, known as Old Fleming, had been in the house on the weekend of the murder, yet he claimed not to have seen or heard anything of the attack on Jess.  

The missing items were traced to a friend of Jess McPherson’s named Jessie McLachlan, who had been a former maidservant at the Fleming household. In her statements to the police, McLachlan denied being at the house on the night in question, but she was eventually charged with murder. Jessie McLachlan’s trial began on 17 September, and it took the jury just 15 minutes to find her guilty. The judge sentenced her to death. However, Jessie then went on to make a statement that turned the case on its head and implicated a member of the Fleming household. 

Today, Jessie McLachlan’s great-great-great-niece Karen and her daughter Chloe are determined to clear their relative’s name. They have asked for the barristers’ help to reassess the evidence that saw Jessie McLachlan sentenced to death for the murder of her friend. They look at the forensic evidence and analyse whether the statement Jessie made to the court following her sentence is to be believed. Could Jessie McLachlan’s case have been a miscarriage of justice?

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

McLachlan

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One Yorkshire

About BBC One