Dick Turpin and who was freed, died at Hackney in January 1738. The reason for his death is not recorded, but is assumed to be natural causes. With the Essex gang now smashed by the authorities, Turpin turned instead to the crime he became most noted for — highway robbery. Although he may have been involved in earlier highway robberies on 10 and 12 April, he was first identified as a suspect in one event on 10 July, as "Turpin the butcher", along with Thomas Rowden, "the pewterer". Several days later the two struck at Epping Forest, depriving a man from Southwark
Dick Turpin appearance at York Assizes. Turpin refused, and so on 16 October he was transferred to York Castle in handcuffs. Horse theft became a capital offence in 1545, punishable by death. During the 17th and 18th centuries, crimes in violation of property rights were some of the most severely punished; most of the 200 capital statutes were property offences. Robbery combined with violence was "the sort of offence, second only to premeditated murder (a relatively uncommon crime), most likely to be prosecuted and punished to [the law's] utmost rigour". Turpin had stolen several horses while operating under the pseudonym of Palmer.