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An investigation in 1522 suggested that he was corrupt with stories that he had fathered a son ‘with a club foot’ within the local community although these kinds of stories were often fabricated by Henry’s commissioners as they were encouraged to dig up as much dirt as they could, probably to help the dangerous situation in the northwest, a local aristocrat, Sir William Brereton managed to have the Abbot’s death sentence cancelled and he and his canons were pensioned off with the closure of Norton Abbey.