Jon Neill, a forty-one-year-old farmer and former skinner residing in Tweedmouth, Berwick, occupied a complex position within his community. Known for over two decades as a professional healer, Jon possessed a reputation that had persisted for some sixteen years prior to the events of 1631. His standing as a man of middling socioeconomic status and his married life suggest a settled existence, yet his role in the practice of healing evidently brought him under the scrutiny of contemporary authorities. His reputation as a "known witch" was sufficiently established that he was explicitly named as such by others in legal proceedings, including the individual known as Samuelston.
When formal charges, which included participating in a witches’ meeting, were brought against him in the spring of 1631, Jon initially fled across the border into England. His attempt to escape proved unsuccessful, as his case drew the attention of the highest levels of government; King Charles I personally intervened, writing to northern justice officials to command his arrest and return to Scotland. Following his extradition, Jon faced trial in Edinburgh in March 1631. Found guilty of the charges brought against him, he was sentenced to death and subsequently executed by being strangled and burned at Castle Hill.
