On 20 April, Stanley invited Belcher to stop by his Park Lane apartment. When he arrived he found Sherman. Belcher left angrily and later rebuked Stanley. Belcher decided to drop the prosecution against Sherman but the allocation of paper was now under his direct control and Sherman became still more insistent in seeking to increase his ration. Stanley continued to intercede on Sherman's behalf and Belcher agreed to meet with Sherman and the civil servant in charge of paper rationing on 24 June. At this meeting, Sherman revealed that he had been routinely exceeding his allocation. The government team were appalled and stopped the meeting indicating that they considered the matter a serious one and that an investigation would be inevitable.