Minnie Dean is the only woman to be judicially executed in New Zealand history. For years she was portrayed as a cold-blooded killer who murdered babies for cash. More recently, attitudes towards Minnie have shifted, but she's still a controversial and complex figure. Black Sheep dives into the story of the baby farmer of Winton.

Minnie Dean must rank as one of New Zealand's most infamous figures. The first and only woman to be judicially executed in our history.

For years she was portrayed as a cold-blooded killer who murdered babies for cash. More recently, attitudes towards Minnie have shifted, but she's still a controversial and complex figure.

Minnie arrived in Invercargill on a ship from Tasmania in the early 1860s. We don't know exactly which year or her age but she would have been in her late teens or early 20s.

She told people she was the widow of an Australian doctor and the daughter of a Presbyterian minister back home in Scotland. That story wasn't true.

But as historian Barbara Brookes explained, it was pretty common for new migrants to lie about their backgrounds. "That's one of the big attractions of migration. People could reinvent themselves."

And Minnie had more reasons than most to want to reinvent herself. She arrived in Invercargill with a young daughter and was pregnant with a second.

Lynley Hood, author of Minnie Dean: Her Life and Crimes, found Tasmanian birth records for Minnie's eldest daughter signed with her maiden name - Williamina McCulloch.

That suggests both Minnie's daughters, Ellen and Isabelle, were illegitimate.

"She was only 16 years old and she'd gone to Tasmania by herself," Lynley Hood said. "Maybe she was pregnant and had been sent off to the colonies because she was bringing the family to shame?"

Of course, illegitimacy wasn't uncommon in the 19th century, but it came with a heavy social sanction. Unwed mothers struggled to find jobs, or husbands or any kind of normal social life. Minnie's white lie about a dead husband let her dodge a lot of social baggage.

She probably had some help in pulling off this story. Minnie had a famous aunt in New Zealand. She's best known as Granny Kelly, a founding settler of Invercargill.

"Her aunt would have known the truth," said Lynley Hood. "It must have been who really put her arms around , and supported her, and helped spread the story that she was the widow of a doctor and the daughter of a clergyman."

So Minnie had a tricky start to life, but she spent the next eight years making the most of her second chance. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details