| 18th Century slave trader Charles Angus stood trial for the murder of his sister in law but was found not guilty. Despite this, he found widespread anomosity against him and returned to his native Scotland. Born in Stranraer, Angus came to Liverpool where he quickly prospered. He married 13 year old Maria McQuiistin, for whom he had been acting as a guardian on behalf of her plantation owner father. They had 3 children before Maria died of consumption aged 21. Angus soon started an affair with Maria's half sister, Margaret Burns. In March 1808 Burns was found dead by a servant but no doctor was informed for three days. A neighbour eventually alerted medics and a post mortem showed a hole burned in her stomach. Angus was charged with murder by administering corrosive poison. At the trial in Lancaster, Angus was acquitted when it was revealed that Burns' throat had not been analysed for traces of poison. Afterwards however, most remained convinced he was guilty of the crime, having got off on a pure technicality. Angus went to Ayrshire where he died in 1820, still protesting his innocence. |
| THE DEATH OF MARGARET BURNS |
| *photographs to be added soon* |