Link: http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/tol_archive/article4167810.ece

“1832 — August 3, William Jobling, for the murder of Nicholas Fairless. The body was gibbeted on Jarrow Slake on August 6, and at night on the 31st it was stolen and secretly disposed of by some persons unknown.”

The Durham miner’s death, recorded in The Times, is thought to be the last public gibbeting in England — a notable account in the history of crime and punishment over 200 years.

Today that history, along with the unique archive of The Times Law Reports over more than 200 years, is open to the public as part of the complete contents of the newspaper from 1785 to 1985. Readers can access the Law Reports of the past two centuries through Times Online, in the format in which they appeared in the newspaper, as well as accounts of the most famous cases of the day — Oscar Wilde, Derek Bentley and the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial.

Rose Wild, editor of the Times Archive, said: “As well as the law reports, the history of crime and punishment is played out in letters to the editor, in leading articles and comment pages, court reports and trial transcripts.