“The case: In 1827, Suffolk woman Maria Marten was due to elope with her lover, the noted fraudster William Corder. But Corder shot her at their assignation point, a local landmark called the Red Barn, where she had come disguised in men's clothes. After he was seen without her, Corder claimed his 'wife' was probably in neighbouring Ipswich or Great Yarmouth, and eventually pretended she was alive in a series of letters to her family. Marten's body was found buried in the barn after her stepmother allegedly had dreams about it, and Corder was sentenced to death.

The songs it inspired: Corder's trial caused a public sensation, and in its day inspired plays, a bestselling melodrama and at least five murder ballads, which were later collected by the composer and early folk song archivist Ralph Vaughan Williams. In 1992, American songwriter Tom Waits transported the incident to the American Deep South, creating a highly impressionistic modern-day murder ballad, Murder in the Red Barn, for his Bone Machine album.”

BBC Four - Lucy Worsley and Micheal Kirk play out the killing scene from 19th century melodrama Murder at the Red Barn