Mary Ann Cotton

Born in 1832 the story of the Black Widow is a tale of classic Victorian murder. Cotton travelled around the north east of England marrying lonely men getting them to take out life insurance and then murdering them. Arsenic was her preferred means of killing. Once dead she would cash in their life insurance. It was not only her husbands who were the victims, she is also thought to have murdered 11 of her children/step children too. Thanks to the endeavour of a man called Thomas Riley, Mary Ann Cotton was finally brought to justice and hanged for the murder of her final victim, 10 year old Charles Edward Cotton.