The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Will we ever know who killed wealthy spinster?
More than 100 years ago the body of 69-yearold Jean Milne would be found bloodied at the bottom of the staircase of her grand Broughty Ferry home. Her legs were bound and money was stolen, but who murdered her? We may never know.
The killing of Jean in 1912 is now Dundee’s oldest unsolved murder case, and the second oldest in Scotland, but what did happen to the eccentric churchgoer?
Jean was born in Dundee and resided with her brother, JH Milne, a wealthy tobacco manufacturer, who bought the 23-room Elmgrove in 1895.
Following her brother’s death in 1903, Jean was given the life rent of the property and lived off an annual income of £1,000, worth more than £110,000 in today’s money, from the rents of various properties once owned by him.
Despite living in the grand house, which was set in two acres of ground, it was later found that Jean only occupied two rooms in the home and, despite her extreme wealth and a circle of friends, she led a rather quiet life with a strong involvement with the church.
Despite being 69 years old, Jean would dress younger than her age, never leaving the house without her magnificent jewellery, including up to seven diamond rings.
A woman of such wealth had to spend her money somehow and Jean did so by making frequent trips to London and abroad, holidaying for around four months a year, often joined by younger men.
At the end of October 1912, Jean had not been seen for some time, although this was not unusual considering her love of holidays and travel.
However, on November 2, postman James Slidders could not get the mail into the box
and thought this strange as she normally arranged for mail to be forwarded when she travelled.
Worried for Jean’s safety, he called the police.
Coullie, the local joiner, was tasked with forcing entry into the mansion and there Jean was found at the bottom of her staircase.
She had clearly been dead for some time. She was found fully dressed and had apparently been bludgeoned to death with a poker.
A sheet partly covered her body, and her legs were bound with a window cord.
Close by was a two-tine carving fork which was bloodstained. She was left with at least 20 holes in her clothes with some puncturing her flesh.
Blood was splattered up the walls and her false teeth, shattered and broken, were scattered on
the stairs. Despite the expensive jewellery Jean wore being untouched, there was no money in the purse found beside the body yet nothing else in the home seemed to have been disturbed.
A post-mortem examination showed that death was a result of shock and haemorrhage, though her skull had not been broken.
She was buried in the Western Cemetery, Dundee, on November 5 with 14 invited guests in attendance.
Broughty Ferry Chief Constable Howard J Semphill was not used to leading murder investigations, so immediately called in help from decorated investigator Detective Lieutenant John Trench of Glasgow.
Throughout the investigation, many locals came forward to tell police of visitors they had spotted at the house in the days leading up to her death.
The murder was attracting attention across the country and a description of the suspect was forwarded to all police forces.
Ten days after the body was discovered, Maidstone Police announced they had imprisoned a man for obtaining board and lodging by fraud. Canadian Charles Warner was arrested and his photograph was sent for witnesses to identify in Broughty Ferry.
Five of the witnesses who had identified a male around Elmgrove agreed the man was Warner, with the three women and two men put on a train to London.
Four of the witnesses identified him as the man they had seen at the home.
Charles was released from prison on his fraud charge but was then further detained on suspicion of murdering Jean.
He was brought to Dundee where he appeared in court. He insisted he had never even been to Scotland and on the day of the murder a receipt proved he was in Antwerp where he had pawned a waistcoat.
The case against him dissolved and he was released in January 1913.
No one else has ever been arrested in connection with the murder.
John Trench returned to Glasgow and the mysterious case of Jean Milne’s murder ran cold.
Over the decades, many more theories have been explored but now, in 2021, we are no closer to knowing the identity of her killer than investigators were in 1912.