Det. Sgt. Whiteley was a police officer involved in the prosecution of Brian Tilsley for unlawful wounding when he stopped Ronnie Burgess robbing Ron Sykes's filling station in September 1981. Whiteley showed Brian that he was not happy about the prosecution but that he was just doing his duty and led him to Weatherfield Police Station to be formally charged.
The next month, Brian appeared before a bench of Magistrates who found him not guilty after the trial. Whiteley asked Brian if there were any hard feelings and told him that this had been a case that he had been glad to lose.