Edward Broughton

Edward Broughton (1803 – 5 August 1831) was an English convict turned serial killer who was transported to Van Diemen's Land for fourteen years for house-breaking. He escaped from Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour with four other convicts and he later confessed to murdering three of his companions and resorting to cannibalism. He and the other survivor Matthew MacAvoy were hanged in Hobart for their crimes. Early life Edward Broughton was born in Dorking in 1803, and had run away from home when he was eleven. He earned his living by petty thieving and later became a highway robber using violence. In 1822 he was convicted of house breaking and served two years in Guildford Gaol. Another conviction for house breaking and he was transported to Van Diemans Land on board the Earl St Vincent in 1826. After being in the Colony for about 10 days he again started his criminal enterprise. He was caught stealing a blanket at Sandy Bay and was sentenced to the penal establishment at Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour. 3 September 1830 five men ran away from the settlement, Richard Hutchinson, William Coventry, Patrick Fagan, Mathew Macavoy, and Broughton, and that they were upwards of thirty days before the two survivors surrendered themselves at Macguire's Marsh near Osterley.