Thomas Jeffrey was born around 1791 in Bristol, the butcher’s son whose early life diverged drastically from expectations. He spent seven years in school before joining the British Navy on the warship Achille—a four-year-seven-month stint that ended when he deserted, citing “cruel usage.” Seeking a new path, he enlisted as a drummer in the Army, but deserted again after less than three years and returned to sea aboard the Leander. 

Back in England by 1814, he turned to petty crime—stealing from family, including a relative Captain Dower—then escalating to robbery of farmers in the Midlands. One victim died, but lack of evidence led to his release after six months. In 1817, arrested for burglary in Nottingham, he was branded a painter and glazier and sentenced to life transportation. .

He languished aboard the Woolwich prison hulk Retribution before being transported to New South Wales in 1819 aboard the Prince Regent. His maritime skills earned him freedom from irons during voyage duty.

Assigned first to settlers near Sydney, Jeffrey persisted in law-breaking—stealing oranges, escaping from work gangs, and partaking in murderous cannibalism even before reaching Tasmania. His repeated escape attempts and betrayals culminated in his relocation to Van Diemen’s Land by decision of magistrate John Macarthur. 

In mid‑December 1825, Thomas Jeffrey and his three convict accomplices—John Perry, Edward Russell, and James Hopkins—arrived at James Sutherland’s “Rothbury” grazing run, nestled between Cressy and Campbell Town on the Isis River. They lingered there for nearly ten days, feasting on slaughtered stock and relaxing as if the land were theirs. But on Christmas Day, things turned violent. The four looted an unattended tent hut and helped themselves to a bottle of rum. As they departed, a shot rang out—startling them but going nowhere. At a cautious approach, they encountered two men with muskets. Upon identifying himself, Jeffrey exchanged shots with one, grazing the man’s thigh. When they drew closer, the wounded but inebriated man began hurling abuse. Seizing the moment, Russell crept behind and delivered a fatal shot to the head. The victim, simply identified in newspapers as “Mr. Sutherland’s man,” was left behind, dead in the bush. 

From that point, urgency consumed the fugitives. They woke a sleeping man inside a hut 800 yards from Sutherland’s home. He offered to show them where to cross the Isis River safely. Crossing, they raided “Young’s residence,” home to “Old McShann.” The elderly occupant and a companion were coerced into carrying the stolen goods into the bush; they were then released unharmed. 

The violence escalated dramatically on the morning of 31 December 1825, when Jeffrey, Perry, and Russell ambushed two men splitting wood near settler George Barnard’s hut (in modern-day Rocherlea). They bound one man, Samuel Russell (not to be confused with Edward), who summoned his employer, John Tibbs, and his family. Jeffrey’s group forced Tibbs, his wife Elizabeth, their five-month-old son, and one of Barnard’s laborers into the bush. As they moved, Russell shot and killed Isaac Beechy, a neighboring stockkeeper, while Perry shot Tibbs in the neck. Although wounded, Tibbs escaped and raised the alarm in Launceston. Beechy succumbed to his wound on 9 January 1826. Jeffrey callously shrugged, saying Beechy “would not have been shot at” had he been more agreeable.

On New Year’s Eve, 31 December, they kidnapped John and Elizabeth Tibbs and their infant. Isaac Beechy, a stock-keeper, was fatally shot; Tibbs was wounded but escaped to raise the alarm. In a chilling act, Jeffrey or Russell killed the infant by bashing its head against a tree when the family couldn't keep pace. Jeffrey mockingly told the distraught mother they had “sent it to Mr. Barnard’s”.

The group trudged on with their captives. At some point, Jeffrey seized the child from his terrified mother—apparently because she was slowing the group’s pace. Elizabeth Tibbs begged, “the villain is gone to murder my child.” Jeffrey returned without the baby fifteen minutes later, falsely claiming he’d sent him back to Barnard’s. In reality, either Jeffrey or Russell had smashed the infant’s head against a tree, killing him instantly. William Tibbs later said Jeffrey told the distraught mother that her child “smiled upon him in the bloody act.” When the child’s body was found on 7 January, parts had been eaten by animals.

That night, haunting cruelty followed. Jeffrey made tea for Mrs. Tibbs and Samuel Russell and forced Mrs. Tibbs to sleep next to him on a makeshift bed of blanket and kangaroo rug about six yards from a fire. Nothing was said, but he could hear her crying. At dawn, he released Mrs. Tibbs and guided her down a hillside toward safety.

As the fugitives pressed on, they nabbed William Bruce, a mailman, along the Tamar River. On 11 January, Bruce fetched a stranger who turned out to be Constable Magnus Bakie, part of a search party. Jeffrey, accusing the constable of treachery, executed him promptly: “I put my pistol to [Bakie’s] head and immediately shot him,” he later confessed.

After several days, Jeffrey shot a cockatoo, their only meal. Desperate, Perry declared, “the first man that falls asleep shall be shot, and become food for the other two.” Predictably, Edward Russell was the one who succumbed to fatigue; Perry shot him in the forehead and then butchered his flesh. They broiled it, mixing it with mutton stolen from a shepherd’s hut they raided on 19 January. Russell’s flesh was cooked into steaks and eaten.

Jeffrey was captured near Evandale on 22 January 1826 after an Aboriginal tracker recognized him. The mob nearly lynched him on sight. In April 22, Jeffrey stood trial in Hobart—convicted for the infant’s murder, Bakie’s murder, and robbery. On May 4, 1826, he was executed by hanging in front of Hobart Gaol.