Andrew George McCrae

1893
January 10th: Andrew George McCRAE (36)
Northampton
On 6 August 1892, the dismembered body of a woman was discovered inside a sack beside the Northampton to Rugby road. The sack was traced to a Northampton butcher, Edward McCrae, who told police that he and his brother often sold bags to the public. The police requested that McCrae tell his brother to call at the station to clear himself. The police had no further leads and on 29 August the coroner recorded an open verdict. Police received information that a man named McCrae had sold a bundle of women's clothing. When they learned that Edward McCrae's brother Andrew had failed to report to the station as requested, they decided to track him down. It was learned that Andrew McCrae had a wife and family in Birmingham but had moved to Northampton to work with his brother. Police also discovered that he had had an affair with a young woman called Annie Pritchard. It was thought that she had sailed to New York with a man named Anderson after she had become pregnant. Police decided that Anderson and McCrae were the same person, and concluded that he had killed his lover when she became pregnant, probably to rid himself of the financial burden. A search of McCrae's property produced the calcined remains of human bone and other parts of the body. McCrae was tried at Northampton Assizes on 20 December. He strongly protested his innocence but the case against him was strong and the jury took only a short time to return a guilty verdict. Hanged by James Billington.