Blind Hookey bet led to the Elstree murder

3:26pm Monday 1st October 2001

On a damp October night in 1823 a horse-drawn carriage, driven by a villainous London gambler, rattled to a halt on a deserted Elstree lane.

John Thurtell stopped his gig a short way from the Waggon and Horses inn, pulled out a pistol and shot his passenger at point-blank range.

The killing, which prompted a widely-publicised court case, was talked about across the country and became known as the 'Elstree Murder'.

William Weare, a 'cardsharp' who made his money conning rich young gentlemen, was Thurtell's victim and is buried at St Nicholas Church.

The story of the murder begins in a gambling tavern in 1823, when Thurtell and Weare bet against each other playing Blind Hookey.

Thurtell, a flamboyant former Marines officer, had joined the seedy West End betting scene after being left bankrupt by a business venture.

The 31-year-old fancied himself as a sports promoter, and, when he met Weare, he had just lost £300 of other people's money on a boxing match.

Weare had started his career as a waiter in a Fleet Street tavern, but, by 1823, he was fleecing naive, rich country folk who arrived in the city.

Thurtell managed to scrape together £300 to repay his creditors, but, unwisely, he decided to gamble the money against Weare, and lost the lot.

To get his revenge, Thurtell hatched a plot with Joseph Hunt, a tavern landlord, and William Probert, an ex-convict and alcohol merchant.

Probert had a cottage in Gills Hill Lane in Radlett, and he agreed to Thurtell's plan to invite Weare there for a weekend of 'shooting and gambling'.

On Friday, October 24, Thurtell bought two pistols at a pawnbrokers and set off with Weare from London, with Hunt and Probert following behind.

At a a point around 300 yards from the Waggon and Horses, Thurtell shot Weare, but the pistol misfired, and his passenger jumped from the carriage.

Thurtell caught up with his victim and cut his throat with a sheath knife, then, with his accomplices' help, dumped the body in a pond at Probert's house.

However, the murderer made a fatal error. He left the bloodstained knife and pistol on the roadside, which were found by two road labourers the next day.

Probert then learned, through village gossip, that a farmer from Aldenham had heard, from his carriage, a gun shot and a man's groans near Gills Hill Lane.

Questions were asked about Probert, so Thurtell and Hunt moved the body to Hill Slough pond, near to the Watling Street and Allum Lane road junction.

However, the police soon caught up with the three men and, after Hunt had directed them to the body, a coroner's inquest was held at the Artichoke inn.

Following a trial in January 1824, Thurtell was hanged, Hunt was transported to Australia and Probert, who gave evidence against them, was released.

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