Tom Nero was a highwayman who persuaded his pregnant girlfriend, a domestic servant, to steal from her employer and then brutally murdered her. This print shows him being arrested in a churchyard at one o'clock in the morning, while his unfortunate victim's body lies on the ground in the right of the picture. In the distance is the house where she worked.

This is the third of four prints William Hogarth made about the life and death of Tom Nero, exploring the issue of human cruelty both to humans and to animals.