Police have released an e-fit of infamous highwayman Dick Turpin - 270 years after he was sent to the gallows.
North Yorkshire Police used 18th century newspaper descriptions and modern technology to create the first realistic picture of Richard "Dick" Turpin, the notorious criminal who was executed in York in 1739.
The e-fit will appear on a "wanted" poster as part of a York Castle Museum exhibition of the cells in which Turpin spent his last night alive.
With no surviving drawings or paintings of Turpin, police produced the image using the descriptions issued by the London Gazette newspaper in 1735 and 1737 after the Government offered a reward for his capture.
One article, published on June 21 1737 and offering a reward of £200, read: "Richard Turpin was born at Thacksted, in the county of Essex, is about 30 years of age, by trade a butcher, about 5ft 9ins high, of a brown complexion, very much marked with the small pox, his cheek bones broad, his face slimmer towards the bottom, his visage short, pretty upright and broad about the shoulders."
The new picture shows a man with broad cheeks and a narrow chin, wearing a light-coloured wig and with heavy small pox scarring to his face.
The poster claims he is wanted for murder, burglary, highway robbery and horse-stealing - a contrast to the modern-day romantic image of Turpin as a dashing, devilishly handsome rogue and heroic highwayman.
Katherine Prior, researcher for the gaol project at York Castle Museum, said: "Richard Turpin is one of the most infamous highwaymen in the world but interestingly very little information on what he actually looks like survives.
"There are no drawings or paintings of Turpin created during his lifetime, all we have to go on are the descriptions from newspapers which were issued to aid his capture. We have worked with North Yorkshire Police to create an e-fit of Mr Turpin, just like they would do from a description of a criminal today. The results are not pretty."
Ian Greaves, an e-fit specialist at North Yorkshire Police, added: "It is nice to think that North Yorkshire Police are able to assist in putting a true picture together of the infamous highwayman, who spent his last days in the city of York."
