OUR latest Crime Files story takes us back to 1831, when a Herefordshire horse thief was transported for life after stealing two horses from a neighbour.
Thomas Drew appeared before the Hereford Assizes in 1831 charged with stealing a carriage horse and a cart colt from William Rudge of Weston-under-Penyard.
The court heard the horses had been turned out with others in a field next to the owner's home, but when a servant went to feed them the next morning, he found the two missing.
But, assuming they might have broken out of the field, the servant did not inform his master that they were missing until the next day.
Advertisements were placed, offering a reward for their recovery, and they were found in Ludlow, one with its tail cut off.
Witnesses said they had seen Drew riding through Hereford on the day they had gone missing riding a bay cob and leading a black horse, while another placed Drew with another man in Church Stretton later that day.
The court heard he had sold one horse in Church Stretton, where he was questioned by a police officer who suspected the horses may be stolen.
The next morning he headed to Ludlow, where he offered the second horse for sale, telling prospective buyers that he must take what he could get as he had been arrested in Shrewsbury and only had three halfpence to his name.
But, the court was told, the police officer who had encountered him in Church Stretton had stayed in the Green Dragon, the same inn Drew had gone to in Ludlow the night before, and had told the landlord that he believed Drew was in possession of stolen horses.
The landlord sent for police and the horse was detained before being claimed by its owner, while Drew was charged with horse stealing.
At his trial, Drew, who lived near the owner of the horses, was said to be part of a gang of horse thieves.
He was found guilty and sentenced to transportation for life.
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