Kylie Minogue ancestor's execution pamphlet sold

A newsletter telling the story of the oldest woman to be hanged in England - who was also an ancestor of pop star and actor Kylie Minogue - has sold at auction for hundreds of pounds.

The "true and particular account" of the deaths of Dinah Riddiford, 69, and John Williams, 22, was sold at Chorley's Auctioneers in Gloucester for £650, exceeding its estimate of £400 to £600.

The pair were executed in prison in Gloucester on 7 September 1816 for breaking into homes and stealing items including clothing, bacon and a copper kettle.

The 19th Century document would have been handed out to audiences at the public execution to "warn others from being tempted to the commission of crime".

Werner Freundel, from Chorley's Auctioneers, said the "gruesome pamphlets" were printed twice a year when the assize courts took place.

"They were printed on very cheap paper and were occasionally sold for a couple of pennies to people who wanted to take them home and read them to the wider family," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"It's quite rare that these things survive because they were printed on pretty rubbish paper stock, so it's rather fun these things are still with us today."

Williams was sentenced to death for "breaking open the dwelling-house of James Bann in the Hundred of St Briavells, and stealing thereout wearing apparel".

Riddiford - the famous Australian singer's five-times great grandmother - was executed for stealing two sides of bacon, two pig cheeks, a tongue piece, two sweet bones, a copper kettle and about 13kg (29lb) of salt butter in an earthen pan.

The total value of the goods was estimated to be worth £4 at the time, the equivalent of £340 today, according to the Bank of England's inflation calculator.

Riddiford's son and co-defendant Luke was simultaneously sentenced to death but was later given a reprieve.

He went on to have a family of his own, and eventually one of his relatives - Carol Ann Jones - moved to Australia and married Ron Minogue.

Their two daughters are Kylie and Dannii, who also had her own pop career.

Publications such as the newsletter were designed to provide a detailed, sensationalised account of a criminal's final moments to put others off breaking the law.

It reads: "May the fate of these unfortunate sufferers warn others from being tempted to the commission of crime of the above nature.

"They should seriously think what may be the consequence of it hereafter."

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