A FORMER crime scene investigator is coming to Hartlepool to talk about an infamous murder.
Ian Gillard returns to the Central Library in York Road on Thursday.
From 7pm, he will tell visitors about Mary Ann Cotton who was convicted of murdering her children.
She lived in the Low Moorsley area of County Durham and is believed to have murdered up to 21 people, mainly by using arsenic poisoning.
She was described by some sections of the media as Britain’s first serial killer.
She was arrested in 1872, standing trial the next year. A jury found her guilty and she hanged at Durham Jail on March 24, 1873.
The talk is titled Mary Ann Cotton, She’s Dead and She’s Rotten which were the first lines of a popular nursery rhyme of the time.
Ian will speak about the facts behind the crime.
He is a regular visitor to the library where he has previously held workshops on fingerprint and DNA technology.
The Central Library has built up a reputation as a venue for top-class talks with well-known authors regularly appearing there.
Tickets for Ian’s latest talk cost £2 and are available from the library on (01429) 272905.