When his dog first found the bottle, owner Paul Phillips thought it was a piece of pipe. But on closer inspection he realised he was looking at something far more interesting.
'Not to be taken' reads the writing on the blue glass bottle, which Paul believes may be the missing piece in a famous murder case from 1865.
Detective Stanley
Labrador Retriever Stanley seemed insistent there was something of value in the garden. So much so, he returned to the same spot for over a year.
His owners tried covering the area multiple times, to no avail. Stanley eventually uncovered the bottle, which lead to Paul and his family learning the details of the story.
Death by poisoning
Mary Ann Ashford - who lived just a couple of doors down from Paul's property - murdered her husband by poisoning his tea, in order to steal his inheritance and start a new life with her younger lover.
She was killed for the 'murder by poisoning of arsenic', after tests showed traces of strychnine and arsenic on her clothes. Her trial took place in 1866, resulting in her execution in front of 20,000 people. This is said to have set in motion a series of events that ultimately lead to the end of public hangings in the 1860s.
In Devon, Paul is hoping to learn more about the case with the help of a local historian.
