S13 Ep17: The Greatest Criminal
Blood Ties Podcast
Peter Shevlin
4.4 • 668 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this gripping episode of Blood Ties, Geoffrey and Molly Wansell delve into the chilling case of Catherine Wilson — the so-called “Victorian Poisoner.” A trusted nurse who turned her patients’ trust into a death sentence, Wilson used poison to line her pockets, leaving a trail of mysterious deaths behind. The Wansells unravel how a woman meant to heal became Britain’s last woman publicly hanged, executed outside Newgate in 1862. With their trademark mix of intrigue and insight, they expose the hypocrisy, greed, and horror lurking beneath Victorian respectability. It’s a story of betrayal, cold calculation — and the darkest side of human nature.
CREDITS:
Presenters: Geoffrey and Molly Wansell
Producer: Peter Shevlin https://pod60.com/
Artwork: George Leigh
Music: Dan Wansell
CONTACT:
Twitter: @BloodTies_Pod
Instagram: bloodties_pod
Email: bloodties.podcast@gmail.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloodtiespodcast
Support: patreon.com/bloodtiespodcast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Catherine Wilson goes to work for a lady called Mrs. Carnell, who duly rewrote her will |
| 0:17.1 | in Catherine's favour. |
| 0:30.6 | Catherine said, oh don't worry, I'll look after you. And she brought Mrs. Carnell what she called a soothing draft. Well, Mrs. Carnell took one sip of this soothing draft and spat it out. |
| 1:12.9 | Hi everyone, it's Molly Wonsall. |
| 1:14.2 | And I'm Jeffrey Wonsall. |
| 1:17.3 | We are hoping that you might be able to help us out. |
| 1:20.0 | Yes, we're very keen to expand our community. |
| 1:22.2 | And we need your help to do that. |
| 1:25.1 | Yeah, we really, we need you to help us. And if you are able to make sure to subscribe or follow the show and to rate and give us a review, |
| 1:31.7 | that makes a huge difference in getting more people to see the show. |
| 1:36.4 | And hopefully they'll start listening to because we just want to build on our community. |
| 1:40.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:40.9 | So how do you do it, Mo? |
| 1:42.0 | What's how do you do it? |
| 1:42.8 | You just click on the show itself and then scroll down under the episodes and you'll see a place where you can, you can rate and write it. Okay, well, anything you'd like to do, that would be enormous, enormous help to us. Yeah, and for everyone who's done it so far, thank you so much. Thank you so much. And we really, really, really appreciate it. We really appreciate it. |
| 2:01.3 | And thank you so much for your support. Hi, I'm Molly Wonsall. And I'm Jeffrey Wonsall. |
| 2:09.5 | We're a father and daughter, as those of you who listened to Blood Ties in the past will remember. |
| 2:13.8 | And we meet every week. And often our conversation has turned to murder, |
| 2:18.2 | which is why we originally launched Blood Ties and why we've now decided to bring it back |
| 2:23.1 | in its new fresher form. |
| 2:25.3 | We're really excited to be back, and we would love it if you could also check out our Patreon. |
| 2:30.4 | Just search Blood Ties on Patreon. |
... |
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