English-born Thomas Ley came to Sydney as a child, and despite little formal education, became a solicitor in 1914, and a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly in 1917. He was minister for justice 1922-25. In the late twenties, a number of his opponents disappeared without trace. After an election defeat, Ley left for England, where in 1947 he was found guilty of murder and imprisoned in Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane.
