Deadly Love: A Short Story of 'Incest' and Murder in Eighteenth-Century Scotland

The trial of Katharine Nairn and Patrick Ogilvie was one of the most salacious and scandalous court cases to grip eighteenth-century Scotland. Yet it has largely been forgotten by history. The jury heard of a torrid, 'incestuous' love affair and a murder in a tranquil Scottish glen. Katharine and Patrick were accused of murdering Katharine's husband, who suffered a terrible and agonising death only months after their marriage. The authorities suspected arsenic poisoning. Soon afterwards the pair were arrested, and they faced the High Court in Edinburgh on trial for their lives.