He had thoroughly disgraced himself in Norwich before he removed to London.

There he got further and further into difficulties, and one of the many publications which arose out of his trial and execution was devoted to pointing the moral of the evils of gambling.[72] It was bad luck at cards, and the loss of much money to William Weare, who seems to have been an exceedingly vile person, that led to the murder.

Thurtell had a friend named Probert who lived in a quiet cottage in a byway of Hertfordshire--Gill's Hill, near Elstree.

He suggested to Weare in a friendly way that they should go for a day's shooting at Gill's Hill, and that Probert would put them up for the night.

Weare went home, collected a few things in a bag, and took a hackney coach to a given spot, where Thurtell met him with a gig.