The esteemed Sunday school teacher cut a pathetic figure as she cowered in her cell awaiting trial for murder.
It was unfathomable to those around her that diminutive Mary Ann Cotton, 40, who had just given birth to her 13th child, could be accused of killing her young stepson.
Yet her supporters were deluded – not only was she hanged at Durham gaol on March 24, 1873 for murdering seven-year-old Charles Cotton, she had killed up to 20 other people.
