Stearne travelled to Shelley with Priscilla Briggs – one of the ‘Witch prickers’ who had accompanied Matthew Hopkins in Manningtree.
The widow Thomasine Ratliff (or Ratcliffe) confessed to Abigail Briggs that she slept with the Devil in the shape of her recently deceased husband about twenty years before. She was searched by Priscilla Briggs, who found two teats, and confessed to John Stearne that she had formerly been a common curser. Ratcliffe was also accused of using incantations. Thomas Monticute claimed to have been infested with lice following an altercation with her and George Waterbury testified that he had lost various livestock after falling out with Ratcliffe. She was also blamed for the deaths of two children of a man called Martin.