Sergeant Harrison and his colleague PC Wilson were dispatched to 7 Coronation Street when Rita Fairclough reported a break-in in November 1989. Harrison inspected the house and took a statement from Rita, while Wilson questioned Alan Bradley at the building site across the street when Rita named him as the culprit.
Alan had in fact been in the house, but his goal was to frighten Rita by moving the biscuit tin containing the deeds to the house. Rita's hysterical ramblings about the biscuit tin being moved failed to illicit sympathy from Harrison, who suspected that no break-in had occurred as there was no sign of forced entry, he could smell alcohol on Rita and Alan had an alibi backed by two witnesses. Terrified of what Alan would do next, Rita demanded that he be locked up, but Harrison told her that they would be taking no further action against him.
The incident caused the rift between Rita and Jenny Bradley to deepen, leading to Jenny moving out and Rita flitting to Blackpool to escape her tormentor.