Some are active cold cases, with police refusing to give up on the hunt for the killer or killers.
In others, such as this first article, the killer’s identity may well be lost in the mists of time.
Yet in all these cases, senseless and often seemingly motiveless tragedies tore families apart. And their agonising search for the truth has yet no end in sight…
SIX shots were fired through the window of the remote cottage. One woman fell to the floor dead, another took a bullet to the back, yet somehow survived.
The male occupant of the cottage, in picturesque Portencross in North Ayrshire, was shot in the index finger of his left hand.
It was Saturday, October 18, 1913 – and almost 112 years later, the killer of Mary Spiers Gunn has still to be identified.
Mary, born and raised in Stevenston, lived in Northbank Cottage with her sister Jessie and her brother-in-law Alexander McLaren.
Described as a true beauty, Mary had worked in Ardrossan as one of the country’s first telephone operators. After a brief time spent in Canada, by 1913 Mary was 49 and had recently moved into the remote farm nestled below the red sandstone cliffs at Portencrosswith Alexander and Jessie.
A Herald reporter interviews McLaren (Image: Newsquest) On the fateful night, Mary and Jessie were knitting while Alexander, a baker, farmer and evangelist, was reading aloud, his back to the front window. A shot was fired through the glass, and through his book, wounding his finger.
ThenMary cried: “Alex I’m shot” and collapsed to the floor with three bullet wounds. The fatal bullethad pierced her heart.
Alexander had time to shout to Jessie to get on the floor before she washit in the back by two more shots. Still in shock, he let loose his dogs, a collie and a terrier, to chase down the attacker.
The killer triedto reload the gun, failed, thenretreated into the dark night never to be found.
Within 45 minutes of the murder, West Kilbride police were at the scene.
They found the bullets had been fired from a heavy revolver and a number of footprints were discovered and protected from the rain.
Journalists from the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald arrived the following morning, and over the following weeks of the investigation they documented everytwist and turn in thecase.
Mary Gunn (Image: Newsquest)
Alexander himself was interviewed regarding his movements during the day, in which he admitted to owning a shotgun. However, the bullets of this gun did not match those found at the scene of the crime.
He mentioned that he had walked to the village in the late afternoon to meet Mary Gunn as she had returned from shopping. As they chatted on their way back, they encountered a mysterious gentleman with a beard, who was never identified.
Policemen interviewed the occupants of local farms and cottages to see if anyone had seen anyone leave the area in a hurry that night.
The murder weapon was never found. In those days before fingerprint analysis was used, thephysical evidence left at the crime scenewas restricted to the footprints outside and the bullets inside.
Robbery was ruled out as a motive as nothing had been taken from the house.
A crook had been breaking into houses in West Kilbride but had a clear alibi for the night of the murder. Irish farm labourers in the area were interviewed to discover if any political motive could be found – to no avail.
The most popular local theory was that Mary Gunn had been conducting a relationship, possibly having an affair, and perhaps this had gone sour.
While officially unsolved, West Kilbride author Stephen Brown wrote a book about the murder in 2018 in whichhe identified who he believes was the killer.
When the McLarens came to Portencross they struck up an immediate friendship with local residents Andrew and Elizabeth Gibson.
And he claims that shoemaker Andrew had eyes for Mary Gunn – and she reciprocated.
Stephen wrote: “Indue course, Andrew’s wife Elizabeth discovered the affair and her temper boiled over.
“McLaren suspected that Elizabeth had discovered the truth, and on the afternoon of the murder had walked up to meet Mary as she came back from the village, perhaps to protect Mary from Elizabeth’s wrath.
“As the darkness came down, she pulled on her lovely handmade boots made for her by her husband, and stole down the path to the tiny cottage.
“Perhaps she intended only to frighten the occupants of the living room in order that the affair would stop, we will never know.”
He continues: “It never occurred to McLaren or the police that a woman could have been involved in this type of crime.
“In due course they came to suspect Andrew, but after interviewing him in Glasgow, discovered that he had a cast-iron alibi for the night in question.
“McLaren was to announce his thoughts in the newspapers at the start of 1914, and this was to start a curious court case for libel brought by Elizabeth Gibson. The case was ultimately dropped as the world went to war. ”
Stephen’s book, Who Killed Mary Gunn, is available on Amazon – and his theory might just be the final answer to one of Ayrshire’s oldest mysteries.
