The gardener went on a spending spree after his employer, Mrs. Dillie Scholtz, disappeared from her home in the Cape Town suburb of Greenways, in July 1961. Six days later a search of her garden revealed her burnt body, with the gardener’s tie fastened tightly around her neck.

The gardener, George Thompson, denied murdering her, but he was hanged for the crime on Thursday, MARCH 29th, 1962, at Pretoria Central Prison.