Trouble at Mill

It is 24 May 1807 and neighbours breaking into the cottage of a couple in Bramley on the outskirts of Leeds, find 40-year-old Rebeccca Perigo lying dead on the bed. For 10 days the door has been locked and her husband William also seems to be ill.

The couple were wealthy but desperate for a child. In the weeks before her death Rebecca had been particularly disturbed and claimed that she had been haunted by a mysterious black dog that watched her even as she slept. A box of medicines is found by the dead woman’s bed.

Cause of death is almost certainly poisoning, but by whom?

William Perigo is a thriving clothier but the textile market is ruthless and the welfare of workers is often ignored. Mercury would have been easy to obtain by any disgruntled employee and could explain Rebecca's hallucinations. Or was there another dimension to the case.

When local doctor Dr Curzley reveals that he blamed her infertility on a curse and recommended that she see the wise woman Mary Bateman by the sign of the Black Dog tavern, witchcraft looms large in the invesitgation.

Bolting themselves away did speak of fear. A green glass ball and bags containing coins and silver found in the couple’s bedroom seem part of a spell to ward off a curse.

The neighbours do not escape suspicion. One works for William while the other is William’s poorer brother James, who was married to Sarah, the sister of Rebecca and stood to inherit William’s estate. Could they have killed Rebecca and attempted to kill William for money?

Investigators visit the Black Dog, a busy tavern surrounded by ramshackle slums. They find that William had asked her to lift the curse on his wife and had been mesmerised by her supposed powers.

As the inquiry into Bateman's activities continues, it emerges that a letter signed by a Mrs Blythe was left with the Perigos just days before Rebecca’s death. It contained deadly mercury and a recipe for honey pudding. The strong taste could not have disguised the noxious taste of the poison so did Rebecca believe the potion capable of lifting the 'curse'.

When it is discovered that Mrs Blythe does not exist, the road leads back to Bateman and investigators dig deeper into her relationship with William Perigo. In fact she had fleeced the family of £70 and feared discovery when he threatened to expose her.

Leaving the poison, Bateman told William and Rebecca Perigo to barricade themselves in their room for 10 days, knowing that the mercury should kill them in that time. She was found guilty of murder on 24 June 1808, hanged and her body was dissected for medical training. She became known as the Yorkshire Witch.

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