A poorly-dressed foreign man seen wandering in the neighbourhood became the prime suspect when police investigated the murder of Mrs. Catherine McIntyre ~ found bound, gagged and battered to death at her isolated Loch Tay home in Perthshire on SEPTEMBER 26th, 1948.
A shotgun discovered hidden in bracken near the house was found to have been used to club Mrs. McIntyre, and when a description of the weapon was published a farmer came forward to claim it. His foreman said he had lent the gun to a Polish labourer at the farm and he had not seen it since.
The Pole was Stanislaw Myszka, a casual worker who had left the farm a week before the murder. A nationwide search for him ended on October 2nd when he was spotted at a disused RAF camp near Peterhead, and was arrested after a chase. Several items stolen from Mrs. McIntyre’s home were found in a hut at the camp, and at his trial for murder Myszka pleaded not guilty on the grounds of temporary insanity.
Doctors, however, testified that although of low intellect, the Pole had no mental illness, and after 20 minutes’ retirement the jury found him guilty. On February 6th, 1948 he became the first person to be hanged at Perth Prison since 1909.