Ruxton: The First Modern Murder
Thu 25 Sept
|Lauriston Castle
Lauriston Castle Lectures


Time & Location
25 Sept 2025, 10:30 – 12:00
Lauriston Castle, 2 Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD, UK
About the event
The 1935 discovery of two dismembered bodies discarded in The Borderlands of Scotland would set off a chain of events that would result in one of the most important Criminal Investigations in British legal history. A glamorous young wife and her loyal maidservant missing. A handsome young Doctor insanely jealous of his wife’s friendships with other men. The deaths of Isabella Ruxton and Mary Rogerson , would catch the attention of the world’s media and result in the most complex forensic investigation ever seen in the United Kingdom. But behind the headlines was a more important story, of ground-breaking new forensic developments that would change the face of criminal investigation. With access to previously unseen documents ex-detective Tom Wood examines the case and reveals the fascinating inside story of The First Modern Murder.
Tom Wood is a writer and regular columnist with The Scotsman Newspaper. He was a long serving…