Sarah Malcolm

[2] In February 1733 the three women were found murdered and their apartment burgled, and Malcolm was brought in for questioning.

Malcolm confessed to being involved in the robbery (which was already a capital crime in itself), but said that she was part of a group of four in total.

The artist William Hogarth had visited her in Newgate Prison a few days before she was executed to sketch a portrait of her, which heightened her infamy after her death.

[5][1] Hogarth was not alone in exploiting her notoriety as other people would visit to see if they could gain a confession that they could publish to further their reputations.

[6] Her notoriety increased over time: in the nineteenth century, a sensationalistic account by military historian, author, and prison administrator Arthur Griffiths would describe Malcolm as an "unsexed desparado" whose crimes were of "particular atrocity even in those bloodthirsty times".

Sarah Malcolm in The Chronicles of Newgate by Arthur Griffiths