R v Garnner et Uxor
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1867 |
| Date | 01 January 1867 |
| Court | Assizes |
English Reports Citation: 176 E.R. 594
Nisi Prius
midland circuit Lincoln, 1864, cot am Willes, J regina v garner bt uxor (a). (Upon the trial of a husband and wife for the iiuudu of the mothei of the former by administering arsenic to her, for the purpose of rebutting the mfeienoe that the arsenic had been taken by accident, evidence was admitted that the male prisoner's first wife had been poisoned with atsemc nine months pieviously ; that the woman who waited upon her, and occasionally tasted hei food, showed symptoms of having taken poison , that that food was always prepared by the female pnsoner ; and that the two prisoners, the only other persons m the house, were not affected with any symptoms of poison ) The prisoners were indicted for the murder of the male piisonei's mother John Garner had lived for many [347] years at Mareham-le-feu, and occupied a small quantity of land, and also kept a general shop, in which he had a considerable quantity of arsenic, which he was in the habit of selling to the neighbouring farmers ; he also occasionally supplied milk to the families living near He had a beershop adjoining his house, \vhich was kept by a woman named Shepheid. Jemima Garner, the male prisoner's mother, who had previously lived in a bede-house at some little distance, came shortly before her death to reside with her sou Her position there was very uncomfoitable ; and quarrels arose between her on the one side and the two prisoners on the other About the end of November, 1861, the quanels between Jemima Garner and the female prisoner became moie frequent, and various expies-sions of ill-will borne by the female piisoner to her husband's mother weie deposed to. Some little time before Jemima Garner's death, the female prisoner had expressed jealousy of Shepherd , and in the beginning of December, 1861, Shepherd's children were seized with violent sickness, followed by great thirst, after tasting same milk whicl had been sent to their mothei by the female prisoner. Shepherd gave the rest of the milk to a Mrs Mann , and all the persons in Mann's household who partook of it were affected in the same way The following day Shepherd's girl, who went to Garner's for the milk, was told by the female prisoner to take a particular can out of two standing together She took the other one, while the female prisoner's back was turned , and on that day Shepheid's children were not affected, but several persons who were...
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