Malevolent Given that his most recent victim has gone to the police, Joel Deering (Calum Lill) in Coronation Street may finally be revealed.
Joel had been influencing young ladies in Weatherfield, and as a result of his activities, Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) vanished.
Earlier this year, Lauren was viciously attacked by the solicitor, who left her for dead and had her flee for her life.
After her return, she disclosed her pregnancy, and Joel promptly resorted to his old ploy of housing her in an apartment.
It isn’t just Lauren that he’s manipulated, as he was also seen blackmailing vulnerable Ellie into telling Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon) that she’d been groomed by Nathan Curtis (Chris Harper) in order to get himself off the hook.
More recently, he was caught trying to get Sabrina Adetiba (Luana Santos) drunk by Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin), who immediately started to blackmail him.
Unfortunately, this has left her in a dangerous situation, as she has no idea who she has become involved with.
In recent scenes, Betsy reminded Joel how he had abandoned her in the middle of a rough estate, and insisted that he owed her for it.
This left Joel seething, but things got even worse when he realised that DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) – the woman in charge of catching Lauren’s attacker – was Betsy’s mum.
When Betsy came back for even more money, he furiously dragged her into the ginnel, before threatening to tell Lisa exactly what she had been up to.
In upcoming scenes, Mason Radcliffe (Luca Toolan) spots the bruise on Betsy’s arm, he is quick to guess that the man she’s blackmailing is behind it.
Terrified that she may be in trouble, Mason urges her to tell Lisa what’s been going on. Will she listen?
Speaking to Metro.co.uk at the Radio Times Soap Awards, actress Vicky Myers revealed how Lisa would react if she found out about Betsy and Joel’s situation.
‘I think that for Lisa to find out the situation her own daughter is in… She’s spoken before that she’s passionate about the education for men and young boys about violence against women, and she’s trying to educate and empower women as well, so I think she would hit the roof!
‘But also, I think she would want to know how it’s happened. It’s her own child and she’s in the profession that she’s in. And also the fact that he’s hidden in plain sight. He’s literally under everybody’s nose, he’s on their doorsteps, and he’s managed to manipulate his way into people’s lives. So, it would be interesting, to say the least!’
