From Wikipedia:

Mary Pearcey (1866 – 23 December 1890) was an English woman who was convicted of murdering her lover's wife, Mrs. Phoebe Hogg, and child, Tiggy, on 24 October 1890 and hanged for the crime on 23 December of the same year. The crime is sometimes mentioned in connection with Jack the Ripper, and Pearcey has been posited as a Ripper candidate.

Early life

Mary Pearcey was born Mary Eleanor Wheeler in 1866.

It has been erroneously stated that her father was a Thomas Wheeler who was convicted of and hanged for the murder of Edward Anstee. However, author Sarah Beth Hopton was unable to find any evidence of connection between the two people, and also found a retraction of the newspaper article in which the misinformation was first printed.

Mary Wheeler took the name "Pearcey" from John Charles Pearcey, a carpenter with whom she had lived.[citation needed] He left her because of her infidelity. She later took up residence with a furniture remover, Frank Hogg, who had at least one other lover, Phoebe Styles. Styles became pregnant, and Hogg married her at Pearcey's urging. They lived in Kentish Town in London. Styles gave birth to a daughter also named Phoebe Hogg.

Murder of Phoebe Hogg

On 24 October 1890, Mrs. Hogg, with her baby, called on Pearcey at her invitation. At around 4:00 p.m., neighbours reportedly heard screaming and sounds of violence. That evening, a woman's corpse was found on a heap of rubbish in Hampstead. Her skull had been crushed, and her head was nearly severed from her body. A black perambulator was found about a mile away, its cushions soaked with blood. An eighteen-month-old child was found dead in Finchley, apparently smothered. After the adult body was initially speculated to be that of an unfortunate in the press, it was eventually identified as Phoebe Hogg, with the toddler's body being that of her daughter. Mary Pearcey had been seen pushing baby Tiggy's perambulator around the streets of North London after dark. The police searched her house, and found blood spatter on the walls, ceiling, a skirt & apron, as well as matted hair & blood on a fireplace poker and carving knife. When questioned by the police she said that she, >'had a problem with mice and was trying to kill them'. Sir Melville Macnaghten wrote that Pearcey would later respond by chanting, "Killing mice, killing mice, killing mice!".

Mary Pearcey was charged with murder. She maintained her innocence throughout the trial, but was convicted, and was hanged on 23 December 1890.

Pearcey's murder case generated extraordinary press attention at the time. Madame Tussauds wax museum of London made a wax figure of Pearcey for their Chamber of Horrors exhibit, and also purchased the pram used in the murder and the contents of Pearcey's kitchen. When the Tussaud exhibit of these items opened, it attracted a crowd of 30,000 people. The noose used to hang Pearcey is on display at the Black Museum of Scotland Yard.

==Execution==  

On 23 December 1890, Pearcey was hanged by James Berry. Berry noted her strong composure in the condemned cell, describing her as the most composed person in the whole execution party.

When prompted to make a final statement Pearcey said, My sentence is a just one, but a good deal of the evidence against me was false". At first she declined the assistance of female prison warders, but after further prompting, accepted their assistance saying, "Oh, well, if you don't mind going with me, I am pleased.

In his memoirs, Berry described Pearcey's execution as quiet and painless.

=From [http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/wheeler.html Capital Punishment UK]:=

You may have read elsewhere that Mary’s father had been hanged for a murder some ten years earlier but this is in fact completely erroneous.

On or about the 15th of August 1882, men arrived at the Wheeler house 16 Maroon Street, Mile End, where the family had moved the previous year. They were carrying James Wheeler, her father, on a gurney, he was unable to move. There had been an accident at work, and his injuries were severe. He died forty-eight hours later.

Then - In one incredibly inaccurate and salacious story, in fact, an overzealous reporter wrote that murder ran in the family and accused Mrs. Pearcey's father, James Wheeler, of having killed Farmer Edward Anstee. This turned out to be a case of mistaken identities, as the man who murdered Edward Anstee was a Thomas Wheeler, not James. Wheeler was hanged at St. Albans prison on the 20th of November 1880.