Jean Thomson, a 39-year-old married woman of middling status from Borgue in Kirkcudbright, found herself at the centre of a formal legal proceeding in April 1659. Her position within the community was substantial; she was addressed as "Mistress" and maintained a significant flock of sheep, markers of a respectable socioeconomic standing. Despite this, she had carried a reputation within her community for approximately fourteen years leading up to her arrest. This underlying local suspicion culminated in her being summoned to Dumfries—a common venue for legal proceedings involving individuals from the Kirkcudbright area during this period—to answer for her actions.
At her trial on 2 April 1659, Jean entered a plea of not guilty. The proceedings included testimony from the Provost of Kirkcudbright, and her case became further entangled with broader judicial investigations, as she was specifically named as an accomplice by Jonet Miller in a separate matter. Despite her plea, the court found her guilty of charges that included attendance at a witches’ meeting. Two days after the verdict, Jean was executed in Dumfries by the standard method of strangulation and burning.