Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore was a fifty two year old former soldier who had served with distinction in the Crimean and Indian wars, where he had earned medals for bravery, strangled his wife after a quarrel at Ashford on 1st June. The Wednesday before the murder he met his wife, from whom he was separated, by appointment and on the next two days he went to work and behaved as normal. On the Saturday he met her by chance and offered to walk her to her father's home; along the way they sat down for a rest, during which time he claimed he had an overwhelming desire to kill her. He accused a member of her family for inciting trouble between him and his wife. His unsuccessful defence was insanity.  He was hanged for his crime on the 13th August 1872 in Maidstone.