0:33:50 > 0:33:57.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17I am the court reporter.
0:34:18 > 0:34:24Since 1674, every trial that's been played out between these walls
0:34:24 > 0:34:27at London's Old Bailey court, every single one of them,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30has been faithfully recorded by a reporter like me.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33I sat just here.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36I wrote down what was said by whom,
0:34:36 > 0:34:41and now you, some while later, can listen in.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43You can put your ear to the walls
0:34:43 > 0:34:46and hear once again these voices from the past.
0:34:49 > 0:34:54Here's a case to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01Here's a case that speaks to the dark heart of fear in every man.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04A case so shocking, so gruesome
0:35:04 > 0:35:08that beyond these walls there is much easy talk of it.
0:35:09 > 0:35:10Bloody murder, no less.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20The year is 1726.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Two young men, Billings and Wood,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28have already been found guilty of their hands in this deadly deed.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34But today, the light will shine on the part played by another who,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37you might say, is in some very deep water.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Silence in the court!
0:35:47 > 0:35:48Order!
0:35:52 > 0:35:54Catherine Hayes is indicted for petty treason
0:35:54 > 0:35:58in being traitorously present, comforting and maintaining the said
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Thomas Billings in the murder of the said John Hayes, her husband.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04CROWD GASPS
0:36:04 > 0:36:08A murder, and a woman accused, no less.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12And for a woman to dispose of her husband amounts to a crime
0:36:12 > 0:36:17more heinous than just plain murder. It's called petty treason.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22By definition, the betrayal of a master by his subordinate.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Be a traitor to one's husband, and face the punishment
0:36:27 > 0:36:29considered equal to the crime.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35It has already been established that Thomas Billings
0:36:35 > 0:36:40and Thomas Wood were equal parties to the murder of John Hayes.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44What we have to establish today is the part played by the said
0:36:44 > 0:36:48John Hayes' wife, Catherine Hayes, who stands before you.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Catherine Hayes, how do you plead to the indictment set down before you?
0:36:54 > 0:36:57- Not guilty, sir.- Speak up, woman!
0:36:57 > 0:36:59Not guilty, sir.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03I...I did not do it.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05- I...- Ahem!
0:37:08 > 0:37:13I will show without question how this wife, this mother,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16went to some pains to see to the demise
0:37:16 > 0:37:19of he who she should unquestioningly serve.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Firstly, I will show how, on the day in question,
0:37:24 > 0:37:31Hayes and her accomplices set out to inebriate Mr Hayes, to dupe him
0:37:31 > 0:37:36into drunkenness and render him unable to defend his own person.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39I call my first witness, Mr John Blakesly.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I give
0:37:49 > 0:37:53will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
0:37:53 > 0:37:59John Blakesly, you are resident at the Brawn's Head in New Bond Street.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01- That I am, sir, yes. - When did you see the accused?
0:38:01 > 0:38:02Er...
0:38:04 > 0:38:08..March 1, last. Around four in the afternoon.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11The prisoner and two of the men who pleaded guilty
0:38:11 > 0:38:14came into our house for six quarts of Mountain,
0:38:14 > 0:38:18which she paid for at the bar and then saw it put into bottles.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23About nine the same night, one of those two men brought back
0:38:23 > 0:38:27the empty bottles and had another quart of wine away with him.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31In your, erm, qualified opinion then,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34this is quite a quantity of wine, is it not?
0:38:34 > 0:38:38It is a fair quantity, sir, yes, by all accounts, yes.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Thank you, Mr Blakesly. I should like to call upon
0:38:41 > 0:38:44the neighbour of Mr Hayes, Mrs Mary Springet.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Can you tell us, Mrs Springet, in your own words,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58exactly what you saw and heard on the day in question?
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Well, I'd been out all day at work
0:39:01 > 0:39:04and returned about eight or nine at night.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07My husband told me there had been great merrymaking below.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Drinking and dancing and singing.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Well, I was tired and I wanted to go to bed, but I was willing first
0:39:15 > 0:39:19to know that their liquor was almost out and so I came down
0:39:19 > 0:39:23and tapped at the door, and asked her if they'd almost done drinking.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26"Aye, child," says she. "I'm just not going to bed."
0:39:30 > 0:39:36And so up I goes again. And not long after, I heard the door open.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42I called and asked who it was that went out.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45"Oh," says she, "'tis my husband."
0:39:45 > 0:39:48He's gone into the country with a charge of money.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50I'm frightened out of my wits that he should be murdered.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53I've never met such an obstinate man in all my life
0:39:53 > 0:39:55when he gets a little liquor.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58There was no persuading him to stay till morning.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01I fear he has been set upon by some wicked rogue or other,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04who might have knocked him on the head for his money.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11I went into my own room, but had not been there long before I heard
0:40:11 > 0:40:14something drooling along the floor.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19I looked out and I saw the two men that was with her
0:40:19 > 0:40:20go out at the door.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24In a little time, I heard another bustling below.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26SHE BANGS ON THE FLOOR
0:40:26 > 0:40:28I heard the men going out again
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and I stepped to the stairhead and looked down.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38The next day, which was Thursday, I saw Wood go out with a bundle
0:40:38 > 0:40:43and turn down Swallow Street. Well, I asked her what that bundle was.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46"Why," says she, "'tis a suit of clothes."
0:40:47 > 0:40:51Well, pray, Mistress Hayes, tell me, what is the matter?
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Nothing, Mrs Springet, I beg you, make yourself easy.
0:41:02 > 0:41:08Gentlemen, I will show that this account is consistent
0:41:08 > 0:41:09with what occurred next.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14The very next day, there was an horrific discovery.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Some poor soul came upon a head found floating close
0:41:20 > 0:41:22to the shore of the River Thames,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26quite separated from the body to which it was once attached.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29This head, gentlemen, was raised on a spike
0:41:29 > 0:41:31and stood in the churchyard of St Margaret's
0:41:31 > 0:41:33that anyone recognising the features
0:41:33 > 0:41:35might give some account of the person.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39Later, the arms, thighs and legs of a man cut asunder
0:41:39 > 0:41:42were discovered wrapped in a blanket in a pond by Marylebone.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Mrs Springet, what did you know of the head that was found?
0:41:47 > 0:41:50The head that was thrown into the Thames at Millbank,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53and the pail that it was carried in, was both brought to me
0:41:53 > 0:41:56at the gatehouse to see if I knew them.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59And I did know that the head was Mr Hayes's
0:41:59 > 0:42:01and that the pail was his pail.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06This being the said pail, Mrs Springet?
0:42:06 > 0:42:08Yes, sir. That pail, sir.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16Gentlemen, the heart of this case is dark indeed.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21What you have seen and heard so far, you will have noted,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23is entirely circumstantial.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27And yet, the woman who stands before you has herself,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31in her own words, given a clear confession
0:42:31 > 0:42:34and account of her hand in the murder of her husband.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39I call my next witness - Mr Watkins.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Mr Watkins, you made a visit to the prisoner
0:42:48 > 0:42:51after she was taken to Newgate, did you not?
0:42:51 > 0:42:54I went to visit her several times.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59"For God's sake," says I, "what could put it into your head
0:42:59 > 0:43:03"to commit such a barbarous murder on your own husband?"
0:43:04 > 0:43:11"Why," says she, "I can't account but that the devil put it into my head."
0:43:12 > 0:43:15The devil put itself in here and I couldn't get it out.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17John Hayes was never the best of husbands,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20for I've been half-starved ever since I was married,
0:43:20 > 0:43:24but I do not repent for anything that I have done.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Only for drawing those two poor men into this misfortune.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32And what account did she give of the night in question?
0:43:32 > 0:43:35What she said was this.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40"My husband was made so drunk that he fell out of his chair..."
0:43:40 > 0:43:43..and Billings and Wood carried him into the back room
0:43:43 > 0:43:44and laid him on the bed.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47They told me that Billings struck him
0:43:47 > 0:43:51over the head twice with a poleaxe and would cut his throat.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57When he was dead, I went into the room and held the candle
0:43:57 > 0:43:59while Wood cut his head right off.
0:44:00 > 0:44:05And then afterwards they cut off his legs and his arms.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10And why did you use your husband in such an inhumane manner?
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Because we wanted to get him into an old chest.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19But he was too long, and too big.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23We thought we could do it by cutting off his head and his legs,
0:44:25 > 0:44:30and then we was forced to cut off his arms and his thighs,
0:44:30 > 0:44:32but the chest wouldn't hold them all.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36So the body and the limbs were wrapped in blankets
0:44:36 > 0:44:38and thrown into a pond.
0:44:39 > 0:44:40"And what," says I,
0:44:40 > 0:44:45"can you say for yourself when you come before the judge?"
0:44:45 > 0:44:49I'll hold up my hand and say that I am guilty for nothing can save me.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51Nobody can forgive me.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57So she clean confessed it.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02Mr Watkins, you saw the prisoner again soon after, did you not?
0:45:02 > 0:45:05And the account she gave of herself had altered, I believe.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11"I'm glad you've come," said she, "for the men who did the murder..."
0:45:11 > 0:45:13..they have confessed it.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16For I was not with them, see, the night that they did it,
0:45:16 > 0:45:19for I was sat upon a stool by the fire.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22But I heard the first blow being given and I heard somebody stamp.
0:45:22 > 0:45:28- And why did not you cry out?- Because I was afraid they would kill me too.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32"What," said I, "was the first occasion
0:45:32 > 0:45:35"of you contriving to do this?"
0:45:35 > 0:45:41"Why," she says, "my husband came home drunk and he beat me."
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Billings said this fellow deserves to be killed.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50Wood said he'd be his butcher for a penny and I told them
0:45:50 > 0:45:56they might do as they would, so I made a contrivance to kill him.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Why did you not tell your husband of this design to murder him?
0:46:02 > 0:46:04Because I was afraid he might beat me again.
0:46:06 > 0:46:12She spoke much of Mr Hayes beating and mortifying her,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15and sometimes breaking her ribs and bones.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21- And of him having murdered two newborn children of hers.- Thank you.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Mr Watkins, that will be all.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28May I remind you, gentlemen, that the woman hath confessed it,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and then she tried to confess it again
0:46:31 > 0:46:33in a manner that might lessen her part,
0:46:33 > 0:46:38but her guilt in this matter is plain to see.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43She importuned Wood and Billings to do her bidding.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46She stood watch whilst one of them struck him with an axe
0:46:46 > 0:46:50and the other took a knife to his throat!
0:46:50 > 0:46:54And then, for a final indignity, she held a candle close
0:46:54 > 0:46:57whilst they cut off the unfortunate's head.
0:46:59 > 0:47:05Gentlemen, you must do your duty and decide the defendant's part,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07bearing in mind all that you have heard
0:47:07 > 0:47:10in cool assessment of the facts before you.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17So now they must decide the fate of a woman
0:47:17 > 0:47:20who stands accused of the charge of petty treason.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23They never take long.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26A few hushed whispers and the matter will be settled.
0:47:30 > 0:47:31Have you reached your verdict?
0:47:34 > 0:47:38On the charge of petty treason, we find the defendant,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Catherine Hayes,
0:47:40 > 0:47:42guilty.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44JUDGE BANGS HIS GAVEL
0:47:47 > 0:47:48Catherine Hayes...
0:47:49 > 0:47:52..I sentence you to be burnt at the stake.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56SHE GASPS
0:48:04 > 0:48:10Catherine Hayes will face a grisly fate, burnt to death at the stake.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17Her story might remain untold,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19how she came to such a place,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23but her name will be remembered,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26though be it a sombre epitaph.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30Catherine Hayes will be the last woman ever
0:48:30 > 0:48:34to be burnt at the stake for the crime of petty treason.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd