The pillory was a common punishment for offences against the community, particularly those involving some kind of deceit or fraud; the aim was to expose and humiliate the deceiver publicly. The usual penalty was one or more sessions of an hour each in the pillory, although a session might last as long as three hours for particularly reprehensible offences. The humiliation was not just a matter of exposure to public ridicule or insult, but also through some symbolic act to indicate the nature of the crime, as well as its public proclamation. For example, in 1365 a seller of putrid pigeon-meat had the pigeons burnt beneath the pillory in which he was secured, while in 1376 a cheat had his chequerboard burned beneath the pillory. More common was to hang around the offender's neck, or from the pillory itself, an item associated with the offence. Or, in a case in 1364, a seller of bad wine was forced to drink a draught of the same wine he had tried to foist on the public, and then the remainder was poured over his head. Some mitigation of the punishment was possible in special cases; in 1380, John Bernard was punished for selling sacks of charcoal of short measure, but, due to his advanced age, he was left in the pillory only for as long as it took to burn his sacks under him. Occasionally the humiliation itself was considered sufficiently strong punishment; in 1382 a man who had pretended to be a physician was punished just by being led through the city, accompanied by trumpets and pipes, seated on a horse without a saddle, with a parchment (bearing a false spell) and a whetstone hung from his neck, and a urinal hung before him and another behind him – after such exposure he was unlikely to be given any further business by the citizens.

A case of sentencing a forger to the pillory can be found in Why Thomas Corbett stood in the Pillory.

Slander and malicious rumour-mongering were looked on with considerable displeasure by city authorities, particularly in cases such as this when the spectre of social strife was raised. The fact that Hakford was also a beadle of Cornhill ward may have compounded the gravity of the charge. Compare with the sentence of a single three-hour session in the pillory imposed the same year on baker John atte Wode for trying to increase the price at which he could sell his own grain, by buying up grain from other sellers. Or with that in 1371 on Nicholas Mollere for spreading rumours (suggesting a loss of Londoner's franchises) aimed at stirring up social unrest; he was to stand in the pillory for one hour with a whetstone hung from his neck. Again, in 1382, John de Stratton was convicted of forging a letter for purposes of fraud and, for this deception, was condemned to be escorted by pipers and trumpeters from Newgate, through Cheapside, to Cornhill, to the pillory, where he would spend an hour, and suffer the same punishment the following day, after which he was to remain in prison until he had repaid the sum he had obtained through his fraud; there is no mention of the whetstone in this sentence.

Perhaps the notion of a popular uprising was not entirely a fiction conjured up by Hakford in an attempt to discredit Hay. Hakford evidently had friends with some influence, for in April 1365 the king ordered him released, upon finding guarantors, and putting up a bond of £100, for future good behaviour. One of his guarantors was John Northampton, possibly the draper of that name who later rose to a position of influence – ultimately mayor – and in the 1370s and '80s led a popular and somewhat radical reform movement that aimed to curtail the power of the aldermannic class.