At the time it was the biggest heist the county had ever known, and led to the arrest and conviction of impoverished farm labourer Jamie Charlton.
The perceived miscarriage of justice caused a public outcry in the region, after a trial which devastated a family and divided a community.
Catching the Eagle was written by teacher Karen Charlton, who lives in Marske, Cleveland, and started when she began researching her husband Christopher’s family tree in 1994.
She discovered that Jamie Charlton was a direct ancestor of her husband, and quickly became intrigued by the Kirkley Hall crime.
