In October 1616, the Court of Justiciary of the Sheriffdom of Yetland, convened in Scalloway, Shetland, presided over the trial of Katherine Jones dochter. At fifty years of age, Katherine, a married woman residing in Stenhous, faced grave accusations regarding her spiritual associations. The legal records document that the central charge against her concerned a meeting with the devil, an encounter said to have occurred forty years prior, when she was a young lass. This long-standing connection formed the basis of the prosecution’s case against her within the Sheriff Court books.
Following the proceedings, the court returned a verdict of guilty against Katherine. As stipulated by the judicial mandate of the time, she was sentenced to execution. The record confirms that the sentence was carried out, and Katherine was put to death by the method of strangulation and burning.