Mary Elizabeth Wilson (née Cassidy; 11 June 1889 – 5 December 1962), known in media as The Merry Widow of Windy Nook, was an English serial killer and the last woman in Great Britain to be sentenced to death in Durham 1958.
Wilson was born Mary Elizabeth Cassidy on 11 June 1889, in Catchgate, Stanley, County Durham, and christened on 30 June 1889 at Our Blessed Lady and St. Joseph, Brooms, Co. Durham.
[3] In June 1957, Wilson married her third husband, Oliver Leonard, a retired estate agent.
[3] By this time Wilson had become a figure of local gossip, concerning both the frequency at which her spouses died and her rather cheerful attitude towards the pattern; she had joked at her latest wedding reception that left-over sandwiches would be fresh enough to use at the next funeral.
She had also asked for a trade discount from the local undertaker, for providing him with plenty of business.