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n John Thurtell was a graceless scamp, a rotten egg andnnaughty fellow. He came from good yeoman stock – his father was a Norwichnmerchant and had been mayor of that town. In 1809, at fourteen years of age,nJohn entered the Royal Marines as a second lieutenant and served until 1814,nwhen he returned home to Norwich, where his father set him up in business as ancloth dealer, (and his brother, Thomas, as a farmer). He didn’t really take tonthe commercial life and was drawn instead to boxing, gaming and the theatre.
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| John Thurtell |
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nOne of his ‘flash’ friends was William Probert, a man of gigantic frame andndiminutive intellect, who married an uncomely spinster for her money and setnhimself up as a London wine merchant, a business that failed in 1819, withndebts of £14,000.
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| A Regency Gambling Den |
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nThurtell took to visiting London on business, as annopportunity to spend time in the gambling dens and boxing rings, and on onentrip he was returning home when he was attacked by footpads, beaten and robbed.nHis creditors in Norwich didn’t believe his version of events, thinking insteadnthat John had staged the crime and pocketed their money for himself. Thurtellnskipped to London but the bad reputation followed him and he was declarednbankrupt in 1821. Soon after, his brother Thomas joined him in the capital, andnwas also declared bankrupt. John tried his hand at running a pub, which lastednuntil he lost his licence for keeping an unruly house, and he then became antrainer and manager of boxers. Inevitably, he became involved in the shadynunderbelly of pugilism, with its gambling and fixed fights. At his time, he wasnintroduced to Mr William Weare, who said he was a solicitor but who was reallyna billiard marker, an ex-waiter, a card sharp and a gambler.
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| Joseph Hunt |
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nThurtell, Wearenand other ‘flash’ players took to travelling to Wade’s Mill, Hertfordshire fornthe night time gaming and boxing, falling under suspicion for backingn‘ringers’, and John earned a reputation for cowardice. The Thurtell brothersnwent into business together as cloth merchants hired a warehouse and boughtnsome stock. Amazingly, the warehouse caught fire and all the stock was burntn(although, wink wink, some say that it had already been taken away and sold)nand the Thurtell brothers claimed on the insurance. The County Fire Office, theninsurers, questioned liability and refused to pay, so the Thurtells took themnto court. The case ought to have been thrown out, but Mr Taddy, for thendefence, managed to upset the notoriously crotchety Mr Justice Park (whom wenwill meet again soon), and this vindictive judge summed up in favour of thenplaintiffs, the jury followed his advice, and the Thurtells won £1,900 damages.nThey didn’t see any of the money as their bankruptcies were still beingnfinalised (but they had some money from the stock that they had fraudulentlynsold). Like many gamblers, Thurtell had an over-inflated view of his own meagrenabilities, which made him easy prey for other smarter, more accomplishednoperators and, as unsuccessful gamblers frequently do, when things went wrongnhe blamed other people for his losses.
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| William Probert |
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nThurtell lost £300 in a bet and blamednWeare for the loss (he lost another £300 soon after, but was dropped a tip on anfixed boxing match and made his £600 back) but felt he had little hope ofnwinning the money back from Weare, so he decided to rob him instead. Weare wasnwell known for his mistrust of banks (can you believe such a thing?) and wasnrumoured to carry in excess of £2,000 cash about his person. Thurtell invitednWeare to a shooting party at a cottage owned by William Probert (the failednwine merchant) at Radlett, Hertfordshire (Weare was a keen field-sportsman andnan excellent shot), together with Probert and Joseph Hunt, an unsuccessfulnpublican and noted singer.
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| Gill’s Hill Cottage |
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nOn Thursday October 23rd 1823, Wearenpacked a carpetbag, and readied his double-barrelled gun and a backgammonnboard, and the following day he left London for Radlett, in a gig with Thurtellnwhilst Hunt and Probert travelled together in another gig. Just before theynreached the cottage, in Gill’s Hill Lane, Thurtell drew a pocket pistol andnshot Weare in the face. The pistol was a cheap, underpowered gun and the ballnglanced off Weare’s cheekbone, and the dazed Weare jumped from the gig andntried to run away. Thurtell ran after him, knocked him to the floor, cut hisnthroat with a penknife and stabbed him in the head with the barrel of thenpistol, stirring his brains about with it.
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| The Gig in the Lane |
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nHe then went and found Probert andnHunt, and together they went on to the cottage, where Mrs Probert was waiting,nand where they ate pork chops for supper, before returning to Weare’s body,ndragging it through the hedge into a field, where they rifled his pockets. Theynreturned to the cottage, where Hunt sang songs for their entertainment andnThurtell gave Mrs Probert Weare’s watch chain as a present. Later, the threenwent out again, put Weare’s body into a sack with some stones and dumped it innthe pond in the cottage garden.
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| Plan of Probert’s Cottage and Gardens |
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nThe following morning at 6am, two labourers,nRichard Hunt and William Bulmer, were working in the lane when they saw Thurtellnand Hunt ‘grabbling’ in the grass for something, and when asked if theynhad lost anything, Thurtell told them that his gig had almost overturned therenlast evening and it was a very bad road.
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| Gill’s Hill Lane |
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nWhen Thurtell and Hunt left, thenworkmen had a closer look and found bloodstained grass together with the knifenand the pistol, which they took to the local magistrate. On the followingnweekend, Thurtell and Hunt went back to the cottage with a spade, intending tonbury Weare’s body, and were alarmed when Probert told them that he had beenntalking to a neighbour who had told him that several people had heard a gunshotnand some workmen had found bloodstains in Gill’s Hill lane.
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| The Pond in the Garden |
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nThe three of themnpanicked and decided that more desperate measures were needed to conceal the body,nso they dragged it out of the pond in Probert’s garden, sacked it up, weightednthe sack with flints, put it in Thurtell’s gig and took it to Elstree, where itnwas dropped into a deeper pond.
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nTomorrow – Discovery and Treachery