UK UK- Jean Milne, 69, Eccentric heiress, Church-goer, Bound, Bludgeoned @ Punctured with Carving Fork, Broughty Ferry, Scotland, 1912

[dotr]

rbbm
2021

What really happened to eccentric spinster Jean Milne in Dundee's oldest unsolved murder case?

Over 100 years ago the body of 69-year-old Jean Milne would be found bloodied at the bottom of the staircase of her grand Broughty Ferry home. Her legs

www.thecourier.co.uk

''Over 100 years ago the body of 69-year-old Jean Milne would be found bloodied at the bottom of the staircase of her grand Broughty Ferry home. Her legs were bound and money was stolen, but who murdered her? We may never know.

The killing of Jean in 1912 is now Dundee’s oldest unsolved murder case, and the second oldest in Scotland, but what did happen to the eccentric church goer and could the culprit have been a woman?

Who was Jean Milne?​

Jean was born in Dundee and resided with her brother J H Milne, a wealthy tobacco
manufacturer, who bought the 23 room Elmgrove in 1895. Following her brother’s death in 1903 Jean was given the life rent of the property and lived off an annual
income of £1,000, worth over £110,000 in today’s money, from the rents of various properties once owned by him.

Despite living in the grand house, which was set in two acres of ground, it was later found that Jean only occupied two rooms in the home and despite her extreme wealth and a circle of friends, she led a rather quiet life with a strong involvement with the church and she rarely ever entertained in her home.''

''Jean’s neighbours would describe her as a church going eccentric living in “Bleak House” and would often hear her playing hymns on the organ in her home but despite her eccentricities they were fond of her and often concerned for her safety.''

''Despite being 69-years-old, Jean would dress younger than her age, never leaving the house without her magnificent jewellery, including up to seven diamond rings.

She would make a trip in to Dundee almost daily to dine in some of the best restaurants and would spend her afternoons attending public meetings or lectures, many of which were church related.''

''A woman of such wealth had to spend her money somehow and Jean did so by making frequent trips to London and abroad, holidaying for around four months a year, many of which she was joined by younger men.''

''Coullie, the local joiner, was tasked with forcing entry into the mansion and there Jean was found at the bottom of her staircase.

Jean had clearly been dead for sometime, she was found fully dressed and apparently bludgeoned to death by a poker.

A sheet partly covered her body with her legs bound with a window cord.

Close by was a two tine carving fork which was bloodstained and had been used to poke and prod the victim. She was left with at least 20 holes in her clothes with some puncturing her flesh. Blood was splattered up the walls and her false teeth, shattered and broken, were scattered on the stairs.

Despite the expensive jewellery Jean wore being untouched there was no money in the purse found beside the body yet nothing else in the home seemed to have been disturbed.''

 

[dotr]

Oct 2 2022

New crime show to examine Glasgow woman's murder case

THE new series of a crime talk show will analyse the “complexity” of a Glasgow woman’s murder case.

uk.sports.yahoo.com

''Also in the new series of the show, David travels to Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, to tell the story of Jean Milne, a wealthy spinster who was found murdered in her family mansion.

The twist is that the house was found to be locked up tight and one of her last sightings was with a mysterious German gentleman.


David meets with Professor Niamh Nic Daéid from Dundee University. She and her colleagues were commissioned to re-examine the 1912 Jean Milne case through a modern forensic perspective.

Niamh talks David through their re-investigation and the ways in which forensic science has progressed.

The first episode airs on Tuesday, October 11, on BBC Scotland at 10pm.''

 

[dotr]

2021

Brutal 1912 murder of eccentric Scots spinster re-examined as crime unsolved

Jean Milne had been stabbed and beaten in a frenzied murder and her bloodied body was found bound and tied at the bottom of the staircase in her Broughty Ferry home.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

 

[dotr]

Oct 10 2022 rbbm.

Jean Milne: Forensic experts review 1912 murder of heiress

Jean Milne was beaten to death with a poker in her Broughty Ferry home but the culprit never caught.

www.bbc.com

''The unsolved murder of a wealthy heiress in Broughty Ferry in 1912 has been re-examined by forensic experts.
Jean Milne was beaten with a poker and stabbed with a carving fork but no-one was ever convicted of the crime.
Her body was found at the bottom of the stairs of her own home, covered in a blanket and in a room covered in blood.
A new review of case files found fingerprints and the pattern of blood spatter was recorded - but it was not enough to identify a suspect.

The case was examined by experts at the University of Dundee's Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science and their results shared on BBC Scotland's David Wilson's Crime Files: Cold Cases.
It is the second oldest cold case on Police Scotland's books.''

''Miss Milne was a wealthy, unmarried woman who lived in Elmsgrove Mansion in Broughty Ferry, then a rich suburb of Dundee.
She had returned to the city in August 1912 after four months in London, telling her gardener about a "German gentleman" she met in the capital.''


''On 19 September 1912, the gardener let a visitor into the house who he believed to be the German.
The following day Miss Milne left Dundee on a trip on steamer. A witness on the vessel said she was in the company of a "mysterious" man.
She was last seen alive on 14 October 1912, at an event at a church close to her Broughty Ferry home.
The following a day a local peddler - Andrew Hay - caught sight of a well-dressed man leaving Miss Milne's house. When he spotted Mr Hay, he quickly retreated back into the mansion.''

''David Wilson, a professor of criminology, said the body was discovered at the bottom of the stairs, suggesting "an element of staging".
He added: "She was fully clothed and covered with a cloth which I always associate with a perpetrator feeling ashamed of what he's done.''

''David Wilson's Crime Files: Cold Cases will be broadcast on BBC Scotland on Tuesday at 22:00.''