Clifford "Cliff" Stone was a petty crook who saw an opportunity of robbing Ernest Bishop's photographic studio once he realised that the only occupant at night was the old lady in the flat above - Ena Sharples.
He entered the studio at night and was disturbed by Ena. He then tailed her for a short time, but the sharp-eyed Ena quickly saw him watching her from the bar of the Rovers and made enquiries from some of the regulars as to who he was. A few hours later that night, Elsie Tanner suddenly remembered him as someone who had just been released from jail after twelve months inside after robbing a butcher's shop but by that time Stone was lifting the floorboards in the dark room of the studio. A fearless Ena confronted the nervous man and he told her that the £74 he was carrying were his savings that he’d deposited there some time before when he worked on the premises when it was a junk shop. She confiscated the money, saying he could have it in the morning if his story that the money was his and he needed it to find his kids - as his wife had run off after he was imprisoned - proved true. However, the next day Cyril Turpin arrested him for robbing a post office and Ena discovered that the studio’s petty cash of £4, 16/ was also missing.
Cyril sought the help of Len Fairclough - due to his council connections - in locating Stone's two sons and discovered that following the recent death of their mother, they were placed in a Church of England children's home, two miles north of Royton. Both men were in agreement that Stone should be notified of their whereabouts.