Horrible Histories

As we get ready to celebrate Halloween, Stephen Roberts takes a look at Surrey’s most notorious crimes and the fates of the perpetrators

- Stephen Roberts

HINDHEAD (1786)

A young sailor innocuously frequented the Red Lion in Thursley in September 1786, unaware that it would be the last drink he ever had. Befriending three other seafarers, he generously stood them food and ale and then set off in the direction of Hindhead Hill with his new acquaintances. The saying ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ was then played out, as the trio murdered him in cold blood, even removing his clothes, believing they could flog them. The attack must have been frenzied for it was reported that the victim’s head had almost been severed. Unfortunately, for the murderers, the body was discovered quite quickly, and they were arrested at Rake, about 10 miles south-west of the murder scene. Six months later the three men were tried at the assizes in Kingston, and shortly after, in April 1787, they swung on a gibbet close to the scene of their crime.

GODALMING (1817)