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George Dean had already escaped the gallows once, pardoned after a Royal Commission cast doubt on the poisoning case against his wife, Mary. Then a North Shore chemist named Smith came forward, admitting he had sold Dean arsenic and strychnine after Dean claimed he needed a double dose and two poisons to deal with rats on his property.

On 5 October 1895 detectives approached Dean just as he stepped off his ferry at Sydney‘s Circular Quay, still dressed in his captain’s uniform, and arrested him again. “I wonder how many more times I shall be arrested over this affair,” he remarked, before going with the detectives.

Dean subsequently confessed in writing to poisoning his wife. He was convicted of perjury committed to procure his own acquittal and sentenced to fourteen years, while his former lawyer and others faced charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

George Dean lemon syrup case. Prison photograph. Credit: Museums of History NSW, State Archives Collection.

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Australia Conspiracy Murder NSW Perjury Poisoning Scandal Sydney Trial

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In October 1993, a local man out gathering firewood stumbled on human remains in a remote corner of Belanglo State Forest. The bones belonged to Deborah Everist and James Gibson, a Melbourne couple missing since 1989.

What unsettled investigators was that Gibson’s camera and backpack had already turned up years earlier, dumped by the roadside at Galston Gorge, more than 120 kilometres from where his body finally lay. Within weeks, a wider search of the forest uncovered four more young backpackers buried nearby, confirming Belanglo as the burial ground of a serial killer.

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Australia Belanglo State Forest Cold Case Melbourne Missing Persons Murder NSW Serial Killer Victoria

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In Montreal in October 1970, armed members of the Front de Liberation du Quebec forced their way into the home of British trade commissioner James Cross and seized him at gunpoint, demanding the release of jailed militants in exchange for his life.

The kidnapping tipped Quebec into what became known as the October Crisis. Days later a second cell abducted and killed a provincial cabinet minister, and the federal government responded by invoking the War Measures Act, suspending civil liberties and deploying troops onto Canadian streets for the first time in peacetime history. Cross himself was held for weeks before his captors negotiated safe passage to Cuba in return for his release.

Riders on horseback wear red uniforms and carry flags as they participate in the Calgary Stampede Parade. The event showcases a vibrant display of local pride and community spirit. 07. 2023 - Calgary, Canada. | ID 460635341 © Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com — ID 460635341 © Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com

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Canada Kidnapping Montreal Political Crime Quebec Terrorism

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Henry Needle was a robust carpenter until 1889, when he began suffering violent, unexplained vomiting at the family home in Richmond, near Melbourne. His doctor once found untouched broth and jelly by his bed, and noted Henry had grown strangely wary of food prepared by his wife, Martha. He died on 4 October 1889; his death was recorded as hepatitis, no post-mortem was ordered, and no suspicion touched the devoted nurse at his side.

The truth emerged five years later, after police caught Martha handing a laced cup of tea to another man and Henry’s body was exhumed and found packed with arsenic, along with the bodies of the couple’s three young children, all of whom had died in her care under equally mysterious circumstances. Martha Needle was hanged at Melbourne Gaol in October 1894 for the poisoning of her fiance’s brother, the last of at least five family members she is believed to have killed.

Martha Needle: Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 516/P0000, Central Register of Female Prisoners, register nos. 5926–6415 (1891–1896).

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Australia Execution Melbourne Murder Poisoning Serial Killer Trial VIC

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