George Dean (poisoner)

George Dean (14 November 1867 – 7 May 1933) was a ferry boat master in Sydney, Australia, who was charged with attempting to poison his wife. A large part of the Sydney public came to believe that Dean was innocent and that his wife and her mother had conspired against him. Although Dean was very likely guilty, his death sentence was commuted and he was later released on a free pardon. He was subsequently convicted of perjury and spent nine years in jail.

Dean was born in Albury, New South Wales and worked as a blacksmith in Sydney from about 1880. He worked for the North Shore Steam Ferry Company from about 1884 and received a master's certificate in 1888. In 1890, he became night master of the Possum, operating between Circular Quay and Milsons Point. He was popular with his passengers and on four occasions dived into the harbour to save passengers from drowning.

In March 1894, Dean married Sarah Annie Gaynor, known as Mary Seymour, and daughter of Catherine Asbury, known as Caroline Seymour, who has been transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1852 for pickpocketing. The Deans settled in North Sydney and soon had a daughter. The Deans' marriage was strained by the presence of Dean's mother-in-law, and Mrs Dean was not happy about her mother's eviction in January 1895. Dean was charged with attempting to murder his wife in March on the basis of his wife's claimed symptoms and evidence of both arsenic and strychnine in lemon syrup and tea and medicines administered by Dean and fortunately preserved for the police investigation. Despite the unsatisfactory nature of some of the evidence, especially a lack of evidence for Dean buying or possessing the poisons, but under strong pressure from Judge William Charles Windeyer to come to a verdict, the jury found Dean guilty and the judge sentenced him to death.

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