New trial for the last man to be hanged in Dundee
● Murder case re-examined by students 130 years after execution
The evidence against the last man hanged in Dundee is to be tested in court almost 130 years after William Bury was executed for the murder of his wife.
Bury was hanged on 24 April, 1889 after a court heard his wife Ellen was strangled with a piece of rope and disembowelled, with her remains crammed into a trunk.
Her body was left in the case for several days after her death, with Bury reportedly using it as a card table during a game with friends.
In his initial confession, Bury, a sawdust merchant who met his wife in east London, claimed to be Jack the Ripper with the trial a sensation of the day. More than 5,000 people turned out to witness the execution.
Bury’s conviction for his wife’s murder rested largely on medical evidence, with the jury at first calling for his mercy given the conflicting expert opinions. During a second post-mortem examination, one city surgeon concluded Mrs Bury committed suicide, with her body being mutilated after death.
Now, some of Scotland’s key legal figures will work with Professor Dame Sue Black, director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at Dundee University, to stage a mock trial at Dundee Sheriff Court to determine whether Bury was guilty.
Students from the Mooting Societies at Dundee University’s School of Law will prosecute Bury, with their counterparts from Aberdeen set to defend the Dundonian next month in a re-consideration of the case that will use both information available at the time as well as current forensic science standards.
Prof Black said: “The William Bury trial and his subsequent execution is a fascinating story in so many respects, from the reaction of the Dundee public, who were very much against the death sentence at the time, to the claims linking him to the Jack the Ripper case, and the circumstances of the death of his wife.
“We have excellent records of the original case, through documents held in the National Records of Scotland and press reports of the time.
“William Bury’s body was transported to the University for anatomisation and the bones from his neck remain in my office.
“He had been hanged and his neck snapped at his second cervical vertebra – the classical hangman’s fracture.”
The mock trial, to be held on 3 February, will be overseen by the Hon Lord Matthews, a Supreme Court judge.
Mentoring the students in the prosecution will be Alex Prentice QC, with forensic pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton to be called as their expert witness. Bury’s defence team will be mentored by Dorothy Bain QC, with Professor Rich- ard Shepherd to be called as their forensic witness.
The jury who will decide the verdict will be drawn from the local public.
The event is being staged as part of the celebrations to mark the 130th anniversary of the establishment of the Cox Chair of Anatomy at the University of Dundee.
The trial will also be filmed by historian Dan Snow, to be broadcast on his History Hit online TV channel.