Thomas Jeffries or (in other sources) Mark Jeffries became famous as the most famous serial killer from Tasmania. Moreover, he "worked" not in modern times, but in the early 19th century.
Jeffreys was born in Scotland and was sent to Tasmania in 1824 as a prisoner after being assaulted with death threats against a constable. He was sentenced to a year in a penal colony in Mascuari Bay.
Just a couple of months after his arrival, for good behavior, he was appointed watch keeper, and then he volunteered to be the so-called flogger - the one who punished local delinquent prisoners with a whip. Jeffries took great pleasure in fulfilling these duties, which already indicated his sadism.
Having provoked himself, Jeffries began to attack the female settlers with the aim of rape. On August 25, 1825, he attacked and kidnapped a local resident, but did not manage to rape and therefore escaped with only a fine. In October, the same thing happened to another woman.
On December 31, 1825, New Years Eve, taking advantage of the guards' celebration, Jeffries and three other prisoners from the colony - Perry, Russell and Hopkins - escaped. In addition to them, only two more prisoners have been able to do this in the entire history, everything was so strict with security.
Not having time to leave Masquari behind, Jeffries and his accomplices robbed Mr. Bernard's hut, and then broke into the house of a settler named Tibbs. Mrs. Tibbs with a small child and a neighbor named Basham were in the house. The fugitives immediately killed Basham, and Tibbs was wounded and then taken with them.
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A wounded woman with a crying baby interfered with those who fled, and soon Jeffries took the baby from his mother and killed him, hitting his head with force against a tree. A few days later, he released the woman, realizing that she was only delaying them.
Tasmanian newspapers vividly discussed all the incidents related to the escape of dangerous prisoners, but journalists were unable to question Mrs. Tibbs about what they did to her. However, according to some reports, she was tortured and raped. The woman could only describe to them what Jeffries looked like - he told everyone to call himself Captain, wore a long black coat, a red vest and a kangaroo skin cap.
During the escape, the prisoners took no supplies with them, and none of them knew how to hunt local prey. Soon they were hungry and then they managed to pull the sheep out of the flock. However, Jeffries unexpectedly had little sheep, he ordered to kill Russell and he butchered his body. Later, when he was arrested, he painted in paints how he cut his meat into steaks, fried it with lamb and ate it with gusto.
On January 11, 1825, Jeffreys entered the city of Georgetown with his remaining accomplices and shot a local constable. Then he found a local bandit Matthew Brady and invited him to join one gang. Brady initially agreed, but after the first joint attacks changed his mind.
Brady was considered a gallant gentleman who always respected women and did not tolerate violence towards them, and when he learned about Jeffries's perverted sexual fantasies, he chased him away, calling him a "dehumanized monster."
Until the end of 1825, Jeffries continued to attack, ruthlessly kill and rape, and the authorities did not manage to capture him. The exact number of his victims and the details of the crimes were lost in history. Only on January 23, 1826, he was caught in South Eske, and surrendered without a fight. When he was brought to the town of Launceston, the locals came out in droves to lynch him on the spot, but the constables managed to hide him in prison.
While in prison, Jeffries gave away many places where other bandits were hiding, after which Matthew Brady decided to take revenge on him. According to his plan, he and his accomplices were to break into the Launceston prison, free all the prisoners, seize Jeffries, and then whip him to death. True, Brady's plan failed and soon he himself went to the same prison.
On May 4, 1826, Jeffries, Brady and six other bandits were hanged at the same time on the scaffold. At the same time, Brady complained that he was being unjustly executed along with some rabble.
