John Sidney Makin was born on February 14, 1845, in Dapto, New South Wales. He was the fourth of eleven children born to William Makin, an assigned convict, and Ellen Bolton. Though raised in a working-class family, John led a life far from industrious. His early adult years were spent working in trades such as drayman and greengrocer’s driver, but he never maintained steady employment.

In 1871, he married Sarah Jane Sutcliffe, a woman of similarly humble roots who had already been widowed once. Together, they had at least ten children. As a father, John was described as boastful and deceptive. He often claimed to have private means of income, though his family lived in visible poverty. In 1881, he was convicted of theft and served three months in prison. He was also responsible for a van accident that left a child gravely injured in 1886.

By the late 1880s, Makin's physical ability to work had declined due to injury. Desperate for money, he and his wife turned to baby farming—a grim practice of adopting illegitimate babies from struggling single mothers in exchange for money, with vague promises of raising them. But instead of caregiving, the Makins were effectively running a death mill, collecting fees and disposing of the infants quietly.

John Makin and his wife Sarah’s criminal activities came to light in October 1892, when the decomposing bodies of two infants were discovered buried in the backyard of their former residence at 25 Burren Street, Macdonaldtown. These shocking finds sparked a full-blown investigation into the Makins’ baby farming operations.

Over the course of one month, police unearthed 15 infant bodies from various residences the Makins had lived in, including Redfern, Chippendale, and Macdonaldtown. Most of the babies had been handed over by single mothers seeking adoptive homes for their children. The mothers had placed ads in newspapers, which the Makins answered under fake names, accepting a “premium” payment in exchange for a promise to raise the infants as their own.

Most of the children vanished shortly after being handed over. Some bodies were found wrapped in cloth, buried in shallow graves, others showed signs of puncture wounds beneath the arms—believed to be caused by a hatpin stabbed into the heart.

John and Sarah Makin were arrested on November 3, 1892. Their daughters Blanche and Florence were also taken into custody but later released. The official charge was for the murder of Horace Amber Murray, whose decomposed remains were found in 109 George Street, Redfern. He had been turned over to the Makins on June 24, 1892, and his body was discovered a few months later, buried like refuse.

The Crown’s case heavily relied on similar fact evidence, linking the multiple infant burials and testimonies of other mothers whose babies also disappeared after contact with the Makins. Although the exact cause of death could not be established due to decomposition, bloodstains on clothing.

In March 1893, both John and Sarah Makin were found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. The jury recommended mercy for Sarah. Their appeal was dismissed by the Privy Council in Britain, confirming the verdict.

John Makin was executed on August 15, 1893, at Darlinghurst Gaol. He maintained his innocence until the end but also cryptically told a cellmate that “when they find the eighth baby, he’ll never see daylight again.” That eighth child was later found.

Sarah Makin’s sentence was commuted to life in prison. She served 18 years, spending time in Bathurst and Long Bay Gaol, and was quietly released in April 1911 after a petition by her daughters. She died on September 13, 1918, in Petersham, aged 72.