On the evening of Sunday 12 December 1841 Maria Parker, a servant girl, was sent by her mistress Mrs Didsbury of Canklow Lane to go to the cellar and bring up some food for supper. Entering the cellar the girl the girl picked up the required items and being security conscious, at the same time noted that the grate was fastened and the door to the outside was secure. However the following morning upon entering the cellar between six and seven o’clock she found that it had been broken into. Among the stolen items was a quantity of cheese, bread and butter, a small ham and some mutton and beef. Maria also saw that the door which led into the wine cellar had been broken open and eight bottles of wine were missing. Another empty bottle of wine, which presumably had been drunk by the thieves, lay broken upon the cellar floor. Shocked the girl ran back upstairs and reported the theft to her mistress. Mrs Didsbury immediately proceeded to the cellar and confirmed that the items had indeed been stolen. The local police were informed and constable John Bland was dispatched immediately to the house.

Starting his search in the garden, the constable immediately noted that the thieves had got into the property by scaling the back wall. He also found several footprints in the soil of the flower border nearest to the grate which led into the cellar. One of the prints was larger than the other, but both of them were very distinct and perfect. On the larger impression, the sole of the right shoe showed three rows of small nails, each row coming within an inch of the other. There was also a single row near to the heel of the shoe which appeared to be very worn down. The other shoe had similar marking as well as a distinct crack across the sole. The constable noted that both impressions of the shoes were very clear in the soil and he noted the same prints near to the garden gate. He made sketches of the two separate soles before examining the disturbed contents of the cellar. Returning back to the police office Bland made several enquiries and found a night watchman Joshua Hemsill who had an interesting incident to report. He stated that about 1.45 am on the Monday morning he was making his rounds along Westgate when he noticed a light was still on at the house of Benjamin Turton. He lived at the house with his wife and his daughter Harriet and was a man well known to the police. Out of curiosity the constable listened at the door for a while. He could hear voices and someone walking about in the kitchen before continuing with his designated round. A little after 2 am he went past the house again and once more saw a light  was still on in the kitchen.

Another witness was a man called James Taylor a shoemaker of Rotherham, who stated that on Monday afternoon about 1 pm he was walking from the cattle market into Wellgate when he saw Harriet  Turton drunk on Quarry Hill. Taylor told Bland that the girl was  so drunk that she fell down into the channel at the side of the road. The witness helped her back on her feet, but the girl simply stated ‘oh dear what will become of me’. She then tried to walk away, but fell once more against a wall and hurt her head. Another witness was Frances Maria Lidster the wife of Samuel Lidster, who told Bland that she too had seen Harriet very inebriated that same afternoon. She said ‘she was very drunk and was taken away by a little girl’. On Monday evening of 13 December constable Bland and constable Womack went to the house of Benjamin Turton, but found only Harriet and her mother were present. Bland told the girl that her and her father were under suspicion for the robbery at Mrs Didsbury’s house and demanded to search the house. Whilst searching, Womack asked Harriet for her father shoes and she told him that she was wearing them at the time, as her own shoes needed mending. She took them off and handed them to Bland who carefully examined them. He found they corresponded exactly with the larger set of prints in the soil at Mrs Didsbury’s garden. They also examined the girls shoes, which were waiting to be repaired, and noted that it had a large crack running across the sole. They then returned to Mrs Didsbury’s garden and carefully compared the prisoners shoes with the footprints in the garden. The two officers found that the prints matched in every degree.

On Thursday 16 December 1841 Benjamin and Harriet Turton of Westgate were brought into the Court House at Rotherham charged with suspicion of committing the burglary. At that point they were simply remanded in order for the police to continue with their enquiries and to give them time to search for the stolen property. When the prisoners were brought back into court on Monday 20 December they had a solicitor, Mr J Badger who was defending them. The servant Maria Parker was the first witness and she told the magistrates that after she had discover that some items were missing, she had gone into the garden to examine the grating from the outside. There she had found some of the cheese, ham and a piece of beef which had been left by a wall, presumably by the two prisoners, who were undoubtedly tipsy following their consumption of the stolen bottle of wine. Constable Bland described to the magistrates how, accompanied by constables Womack and Dearnelly, they had gone  to Mrs Didsbury’s garden and confirmed that the prisoners shoes matched the footprints in the garden. Constable Dearnelly confirmed his colleagues evidence. Another witness was Edward Calton a labourer, who told the magistrates that he was a gardener and had worked in the garden for Mrs Didsbury from the 6th to the 11th December of that year. On the Saturday he had finished work at 4pm having previously raked off the soil in the flower bed. He swore that he had not left any footprints in the soil and had left it tidy and clear.  The magistrates conferred briefly before stating that the evidence of the shoe prints, as well as the girl being seen drunk in the streets following the night of the robbery, was enough evidence to find both father and daughter guilty. He sentenced them to take their trial at the Sheffield Quarter Sessions where they appeared on Friday 28 February 1842. After hearing all the evidence Benjamin and Harriet Turton were both found guilty and given six months imprisonment.