A quick precis of the Brooks case:
- Someone had chopped off the leg of a cow belonging to John Hannah
- Separately, John Hannah had noticed that liquor was missing from his house and obtained a warrant to search Brooks' house
- A bloody axe was found in John Brooks' barn, with tissue and hair matching the colour of the cow.
- There was also a suggestion that there must have been blood on his shirt, and why otherwise would he be wearing his Sunday shirt on a weekday
- His defence was weak, he was convicted and sentenced to 7 years transportation (which was better then the 14 years he was expecting).
- There was hearsay evidence that the crime had in fact been committed by Robert Costin's brother-in-law Francis Hewlatt and a petition for pardon was made on that basis, but to no effect.
He was imprisoned in September 1823 pending trial but was not convicted until March 1824.
