Mary Ann Cotton: podcast appearances and interviews

Mary Ann Cotton was an English woman born as Mary Ann Robson on 31 October 1832 and executed on 24 March 1873. She was convicted of poisoning her stepson with arsenic and was sentenced to death. Although her official conviction was for this murder, she is believed to have been a serial killer who murdered multiple victims, including 11 of her 13 children and three of her four husbands. Her suspected motive for these killings was the collection of life insurance policies. Cotton's preferred method of killing was poison, primarily arsenic. Her downfall occurred after an attempt to have her deceased husband's son, Charles Edward Cotton, sent to a workhouse failed. She reported the child's death shortly thereafter, and subsequent investigations revealed a pattern of suspicious deaths. The body of her stepson was examined and found to contain arsenic, leading to her arrest and conviction. Cotton was executed at Durham Gaol; however, her death was caused by strangulation due to the noose being set too short, possibly intentionally, rather than by the intended method of hanging.