Henry John Burnett

On 2 February 1957, Thomas Guyan married Margaret May, and a year later they moved into a first floor flat at 14 Jackson Terrace, Aberdeen, a house owned by May's grandmother Annie Henderson.

This led to marital problems, which came to a head in 1962 when Margaret consulted a solicitor about the possibility of a divorce, which her husband refused.

Then, in December of that same year, she went to work at John R. Stephen Fish Curers where she met a new admirer, Henry Burnett.

Fearful of what was happening inside, Cattanagh banged repeatedly on the front door and demanded the release of Margaret.

But Burnett, still set on revenge, instead went to Frank's house in the city's Bridge of Don area to borrow his brother's shotgun.

Burnett dragged Margaret down a lane and as far as a garage on Seaforth Road, near the main route north out of Aberdeen.

[1] At his trial, Burnett's defence was that at the time of the crime he was insane or alternatively, that this was a case of diminished responsibility.

In correspondence with The Scotsman and the Howard League for Penal Reform, it appears that the expert psychiatric evidence was mocked by the press and discounted by the Crown.

However, there was no appeal from Burnett and at 8.00 am on Thursday, 15 August 1963, the 21-year-old was executed on Britain's newest gallows (built in 1962 to Home Office-approved specifications) as a crowd of 200 people gathered outside the prison.