An Irishman who had come to Scotland to work as a labourer on the Union Canal, William Burke was convicted of the murder of sixteen people. Burke and his associate, William Hare, sold their victims to Robert Knox, the leading teacher of anatomy in Edinburgh. The judge described the case as 'one of the most monstrous exhibitions of atrocity ever disclosed in the annals of criminal jurisprudence'. Burke was hanged on 28 January 1829. Hare turned 'King's evidence' and walked away free while Dr Knox was not prosecuted, even though the final body had been found on his dissecting table.