The couple answered a series of advertisements from unmarried mothers seeking adoption of their babies, taking on the care of the infants on payment of a "premium".

The exact cause of death was not determined but due to the bloodstains on the infants's clothing It's believed they had been stabbed in the heart with a large needle, hence the name "Hatpin Murders".

[8] After John Makin was injured in an accident, as a source of income the couple turned to 'baby farming', the practice of taking on the care of illegitimate babies in exchange for payment.

[9] By October 1892, when news broke about the discovery of the bodies of two infants buried in the yard of the house in Macdonaldtown, the Makin family were living at 6 Wells Street in Redfern.

[9] Some of the Makins' baby-farming activities came to light at the inquests held in the Coroner's Court and subsequent trial on a murder charge: On 12 February 1892 nineteen-year-old Miss Agnes Ward, a domestic servant living at Cook's River, gave birth to a male child at the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Terry, a midwife, at Fleet Street, Summer Hill.

Stacey visited the family at 109 George Street, Redfern where "all the Makins professed to take a great fancy to the baby, and kissed it affectionately".

On 24 June she placed an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald in search of a "motherly person" to adopt her baby boy, offering to pay "a small premium".

On the day the advertisement appeared a letter was written by either John or Sarah Makin from 109 George Street, Redfern, expressing a willingness to adopt the child for a fee of about £2 10s or £3 and give him "a mother's love and attention".

The body was too decomposed to ascertain the cause of death, or even whether the child was born alive, and the inquest returned "an open verdict of found dead".

In summing up, the City Coroner, John Woore, told the jury this was a case "surrounded by suspicion, and there was no doubt that the bodies had been placed there secretly".

[35] On 2 November Senior-constable James Joyce and Constable Alexander Brown, plain-clothes officers of the Newtown Police Station, went to the house in Burren Street and commenced digging in the yard, where they found an additional five babies' bodies.

[36] On the afternoon of 3 November 1892 Joyce arrested John Makin and his daughters, Blanche and Florence, at their house at Chippendale and took them to Newtown Police Station.

John and Sarah Makin were charged "on suspicion, with causing the death of an illegitimate female child, the offspring of Horace Bothamley and Minnie Davis, on or about the end of July or the beginning of August last".

[9] The police announced their intention to investigate the yards of the houses the family had occupied during the past three or four years, as this was the period Senior-constable Joyce was of the opinion the Makins had been "engaged in baby farming".

[37] As a result of the examinations by the City Coroner the Makins were charged with causing the death of the illegitimate male child of Amber Murray, on or about 27 June 1892, and committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court.

They were also charged with causing the death of the illegitimate female child of Horace Bothamley and Minnie Davis about the end of July or the beginning of August 1892.

[37] John and Sarah Makin were put on trial in the Central Criminal Court, beginning on Monday, 6 March 1893, before Justice Stephen.

[46] On the second day of the trial, one of those who gave evidence was Edward Jordan, a horse-trainer, who was locked up in the Newtown police station with John Makin.

Healy, the Crown Prosecutor, admitted that "the case was a very extraordinary and a unique one" but he considered that the jury "would have no difficulty" in concluding that the child had been murdered.

[47] When the jury returned to the court at 10 a.m. the next day, 9 March, the foreman stated they had agreed to a verdict, guilty of the murder of Horace Murray in respect of both prisoners.

[50] On the same day of the appeal dismissal, John and Sarah Makin appeared in the Central Criminal Court for sentencing by Justice Stephen.

As he passed sentence upon the prisoners Justice Stephens recounted how they had taken money from the mother of Horace Murray and "beguiled her with promises which you never meant to perform, having already determined on the death of the child; you misled her by false statements as to your name; you deceived her as to your address".

[54] The notification of the Privy Council's dismissal of the appeal allowed the New South Wales Attorney-General to resume the judicial process and fix the date of John Makin's execution.

[55] In early August 1893 Makin wrote to the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, drawing attention to what he considered to be the weak points in the evidence and asking for a reprieve of the death sentence.

[56] On 11 August two of Makin's brothers, his sister-in-law and Archibald Campbell and John Nicholson, the members of parliament for Illawarra, met with the Colonial Secretary, Sir George Dibbs.

[61] By 1907 two of Sarah's daughters, Florence (by then a married woman with the surname Anderson) and Minnie Helbi, had sufficient concerns about their mother's health that they each wrote to the Attorney-General requesting her release from prison.

Sarah Makin was discharged "quietly and anonymously" from Long Bay Gaol on 29 April 1911, into the care of Florence Anderson and her husband.

Sarah Makin died on 13 September 1918, aged 72 years, from senile decay and heart failure (possibly due to tertiary syphilis).

[66] The legal importance of the prosecution case in the conviction of the Makins' lies in the 'similar fact' or 'propensity' evidence admitted by Justice Stephen at the trial.

[67] After the decision of the March 1893 appeal was confirmed by the Privy Council, the principle that the "evidence of a defendant's other criminal misconduct could be relevant" was incorporated into British common law.