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Crime loomed large in the minds of Victorian Londoners. All over the city- watches- purses and handkerchiefs disappear from pockets- goods migrate from warehouses- off docks and out of shop windows. Burglaries are rife- shoplifting is carried on in West End stores and people fall victim to all kinds of ingenious swindles. Pornographers proliferate and an estimated 80-000 prostitutes operate on Londons streets. The vulnerable are robbed in dark alleys or garroted- a new kind of mugging in which the victim is half-strangled from behind while being stripped of his possessions... Discover Victorian Londons grimy rookeries- home to thousands of the citys poorest and most desperate residents. Explore the crime-ridden slums- flash houses and gin palaces from a unique street-level view and meet the people who inhabited them. Ross Gilfillan uncovers Londons lost criminal past in this fascinating account of nineteenth century low-life.Come face to face with pickpockets snatching pocket watches; pornographers peddling guides to lewd London; swindlers deluding the unwary and murderers whose deeds made the headlines and shocked their readers; right through to the consequences of their crimes - prison- transportation- or the gallows!...