Where there’s a will there’s often a packet of trouble, and that was the case with John McDermott, 30, whose father left him the family farm known as Rossmoylan, just outside the town of Creggs, Roscommon, Ireland.

Under the terms of the will, John was to pay his brother Patrick and his sister Kate £100 each out of the profits from the farm, so that they could set up on their own. The snag was, there were no profits.

The autumn of 1932 found the two brothers and their sister doing their best to run the place, but not making much of a go of it. Patrick bristled with anger when he thought of the £100 he wasn’t going to get, and on September 4th, 1932, he decided he’d had enough.

At midnight Kate heard two shots in the night, and seconds later Patrick ran in, saying he had just found John’s body down by the gate of Rossmoylan farm. Surprisingly, neither of them called the police or a doctor for the rest of that night.

There was only one suspect when the police did finally arrive – and that was Patrick McDermott.

When the murder trial judge, Mr. Justice Hanna, was told that the body had lain unattended for nearly seven hours, he commented: “This is the most mysterious village I have ever heard about. I shall see that the relevant authorities are informed about these events.”

McDermott was found guilty of killing his brother and hanged at Mountjoy Prison on DECEMBER 29th, 1932.