Lothian Murder Files: Poisoner escaped but was unable to outrun the law

In Dalkeith, in an impressive house called the Neuk, a gathering of 18 friends had played several tables of whist and enjoyed a midnight supper before settling down to coffee.

It was 3 February, 1911, and they were celebrating the silver wedding anniversary of the man of the house, Charles Hutchison, and his wife.

Charles was a freemason, a highly-regarded figure throughout Midlothian and Edinburgh.

Pouring the coffee was his son, 24-year-old John. He too was well-known in the area – for reckless high living. He had recently given up his job in his uncle's dispensary, bought a new car and devoted his days to motoring, taking cruises to North Africa, and indulging in the Capital's latest craze, roller skating.

But his extravagant lifestyle began to catch up with him; he claimed to have made 17,000 out of the rubber boom, but other shares plummeted and he soon found himself 10,000 in the red.

He hatched a plot to clear his debts – by cashing in his father's life insurance. The drawback was, of course, that he would have to kill him first.

Taking a bottle of arsenic from his former employer, he spiked the after-dinner coffee pot. All but two of the guests drank the vile brew, and the effects were immediate. Charles Hutchison and friend Alec Clapperton downed their cup in one and instantly keeled over in agony. Other guests rushed into the front garden screaming with pain and vomiting.

Doctors rushed to the house, but were unable to save Charles and Alec, who died within hours. It was soon confirmed that the cause was arsenic poisoning.

Perhaps John Hutchison would have kept his guilty secret if he had not absconded shortly after his father's funeral. Suspicions were aroused, and when the police discovered that his uncle's premises were missing a bottle of arsenic, a warrant was put out for his arrest.

The whole country was quickly caught up in the hunt for the Dalkeith poisoner, who was seen several times in London but evaded capture – astonishingly, since he apparently had a peculiar "springy" gait, swinging his arms from the elbows, and cut a distinctive figure in his coloured shirt, winged white collar, bowler hat, gold rings, watch and chain.

Eventually a hotelier in Guernsey was browsing a newspaper article on the case and realised that one of his guests was John Hutchison.

Police apprehended him in the hotel, but he dashed to his bedroom and clutched to his mouth a vial of lethal prussic acid. Officers were unable to stop him drinking it and he collapsed to the floor. Within 10 minutes he was dead.