Judge Turpin is the reigning magistrate of London. He becomes enamored with Benjamin Barker's (Sweeney Todd) wife, Lucy Barker, and with the aid of his right-hand man, the Beadle Bamford, he convicts Todd of a trumped-up charge, and sends him to prison, leaving his wife and daughter unprotected. The Judge drugs and rapes Lucy, who goes insane with guilt and grief and swallows poison. The Judge then adopts Todd's daughter, Johanna, as his ward, on whom he spies voyeuristically through a hole in her wall. He intends to marry her, although she is no older than fifteen.