In this series, we are going to be looking at some of the United Kingdom’s murder cases that have been left unsolved.
Now the purpose of this isn’t to cast my own view, although I will share some of my own views of what may have occurred, but most importantly it gives the case exposure and hopefully leads to the case being solved.
In my opinion no matter how old the case is, solving it will always give someone peace.
The first unsolved case we are going to go into is that of Janet Rogers which occurred back in 1866.
The build up
Janet Rogers was a 55 years old, married mother of five who worked as a clerk.
The case began when Janet travelled to William Henderson her brother’s farm which was situated a few miles south of Perth to help with chores and other activities while looking for another servant to take on this role as another had just been let go.
During this time Janet would not only lose her life but it would also become a cold case and remain unsolved even to this day.
Timeline of the murder
In March 1866 Janet travelled to her brother’s farm to assist with chores and other duties as his current servant or assistant Christina Miller had been sacked.
After being let go Christina decided to go live with Ploughman James Crichton and his wife until she found something suitable.
During this time William Henderson called upon his sister Janet Rogers to assist him with duties throughout the day, hence Janet travelling to his farm.
One morning William Henderson decided to visit the market which was based a few miles away in Perth, This particular morning he had breakfast with Janet and then left for the market on a horse and carriage.
William returned a few hours later around 6-7 PM that evening to find the whole house locked and the shutters on the windows closed which was unusual.
He managed to gain access to the house using an upstairs window, He made his way through the house eventually finding his sister Janet lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of her own blood.
An axe was lying next to the body and there was a spread of blood on the wall and obvious signs of a struggle.
Janet had been brutally murdered.
The Investigation
The investigation of Janet Rogers death was a swift one as there wasn’t much to go on in terms of gathering evidence.
The police interviewed multiple witnesses from the surrounding areas, but there wasn’t a lot of useful information gathered that could assist with the investigation.
They had the murder weapon which was the kitchen axe, which was lying next to the victim they also described multiple head injuries which were determined as the cause of death.
The police determined that this wasn’t a robbery as there didn’t seem to be anything out of place apart from in the kitchen although, William did describe the house as been ‘ransacked’.
A few days later Christina Miller who used to work for William was interviewed by the Police and she claimed that she had overheard James Crichton confess to the murder, This led to his arrest shortly after.
James denied any involvement in the murder of Janet.
The trial
The trial for this case lasted a total of two days against James Crichton but the jury would only take a total of 12 minutes to return with the verdict ‘Not proven’ this was due to the lack of evidence apart from the witnesses mentioned but this wasn’t enough.
After the trial
When the trial ended it was said that William had become obsessed with finding his sister’s murderer, This would eventually drive him insane and he would be sent to what was then known as a lunatic asylum.
William believed that James Crichton was to blame for the murder but this couldn’t be proven and this is what caused his downfall, He would eventually pass away in 1890 at the Murray Royal Asylum.
Crichton relocated with his family to Dunfermline where he worked as a labourer, he eventually passed away in 1894 due to gangrene.
What occurred In 1866?
While researching this case you have to keep in mind that there wasn’t much forensic evidence and testing like we have today there was no DNA or fingerprints so it was mostly visual.
Looking at this case there are a lot of questions that have gone unanswered.
Why was Christina Miller sacked by William, was there a disagreement or ongoing feud that led up to this?
There is also the question of why the house was fully locked up and all of the window shutters closed, William himself described this as unusual.
The murderer must’ve had a lot of time on their hands to go around and fully lock the house and why would they take the time to do this knowing full well she would be discovered, Was the murder committed by someone who didn’t know the household or was it done to make it appear this way.
Some of the details also don’t fully add up such as the description of the scene, Police said it wasn’t a burglary as there wasn’t much out of place apart from the kitchen but then William described the house as been ‘ransacked’.
It’s unfortunate that this case has remained unsolved for all this time but hopefully one day someone can piece together the puzzle and give the family closure on what actually happened to Janet on that day in 1866.
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Sources and useful information:
BBC news:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-18721312
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