The Murder of Sarah Dormer and the Trial of Ann Heytrey

At 7.15pm on Sunday August 29th 1819, the village of Ashow, Warwickshire was shook to its core by a young girl's scream at Dial House Farm. Thirteen-year-old Mary Dormer found her mother, Sarah Dormer's, slain body lying in Sarah's bedroom.

Sarah's 21-year-old maidservant, Ms Ann Heytrey was charged, arrested, and imprisoned at the County Town Gaol at Warwick, where she would remain until the following year when she was tried at Warwick Assizes for Sarah's murder. After being found guilty, Ann was publicly hanged two days after outside of Warwick Gaol, the last woman to be publicly executed at Warwick. After being cut down, her lifeless body was taken to nearby Kenilworth where she was dissected that evening in the back garden of the local Surgeon.

This is the first book ever to be dedicated to reinvestigating the truth, of what really happened on that fateful evening which led to a 59-year old woman to be almost decapitated in her own home, and if Ms Heytrey was really guilty of such a crime. David John Eason explores the family's history, as well as all those involved in the case and trial and the social events of that time, including the massacre at St Peter's Field (Peterloo) in Manchester, which occurred only thirteen days prior to Sarah's apparently unmotivated murder.