William Walter Burton, 29, was a village sub-postmaster in Dorset, married with a 41-year-old wife and a young child. Then Winifred Mary Mitchell, a 24-year-old cook, moved to the village and began an affair with him, making him promise to leave his family and emigrate with her to Canada.
Burton soon began to tire of her, however, but when he suggested ending the affair Winifred threatened to tell his wife. So Burton changed his tune and chose another solution.
First he went to a plantation near Gussage St. Michael, where he prepared a shallow grave. Then he told Winifred he was ready to leave his family, instructing her to pack in readiness for a midnight flit and to tell her friends that she was going to London to stay with relatives.
No more was seen of her after MARCH 30th, 1913…until her body was found a month later. A post-mortem examination established that she had been shot, and the police were soon knocking on Burtons door.
Tried and convicted at Dorset Assizes, he was hanged at Dorchester on June 24th, 1913.