Kent's 10 Most Heinous Crimes

A scream pierced the foggy night, then all was silent, save for the sound of scurrying footsteps. Murder had been committed. Dare you read on?

- Stephen Roberts

SALTWOOD & CANTERBURY (1170)

It was a particularly gruesome slaying when Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was done to death in his own cathedral: no sanctuary there.

A frustrated Henry II had railed at his insubordinate servant and four knights had acted promptly, if peremptorily. We all have moments of anger: we don’t expect them to end with someone’s death. One of the sword blows was so severe the crown of Becket’s head came away, and his brains were scattered on the pavements of the cathedral. It would be easy to start my odyssey in Canterbury, but instead I’ve chosen Saltwood, about 16 miles south, above Hythe.

Sometimes it’s not where the crime was committed, but where it was plotted that has greater resonance. Henry and Becket quarrelled over Saltwood and the king’s nominee, Randolph de Broc, was a sworn enemy of the archbishop, and therefore sheltered the knights, who made landfall from Normandy on 28 December 1170. The following day Becket was dead.

HAWKHURST (1735-49)

One of the more infamous smuggling, robbing and extortion operations of the early 18th century, the Hawkhurst Gang (named after the Kentish village where it was based), extended its patch along the coast to Dorset.

Any bunch of self-respecting smugglers needs a pub for plotting and this lot had the Oak and Ivy Inn, in Hawkhurst. Their HQ was so close to the Sussex border that its nefarious activities spilled into the neighbouring county.

A riding officer (revenue man) was shot dead in 1740, while anyone suspected of being too interested in the gang’s activities was likely to ‘disappear.’