It comes as two more suspects in Weatherfield’s ‘biggest-ever whodunnit’ have been revealed
Coronation Street fans have made their feelings clear about Joel Deering’s death and have said ‘there’s no way’ as two more suspects in Weatherfield’s ‘biggest-ever whodunnit’ have been revealed.
Viewers of the ITV soap know that The solicitor suddenly disappeared last month as he failed to show his face in court. In then scenes aired at the end of September, a warrant was issued for Joel’s arrest as he was seemingly set to face his comeuppance for his twisted crimes.
However, after transferring money to his grooming victim and mother of his new son Lauren Bolton as well as his ex-wife Emily, Joel’s car was found abandoned and it was believed Joel may have ended up taking his own life – something his ex-fiancée Dee-Dee Bailey didn’t believe.
She went on her own investigation while DS Lisa Swain and Kit Green carried on digging. But soon, Swain was pulled off the case after Kit found text messages that Joel had sent her daughter, Betsy, threatening to kill her.
It was then during Monday night’s episode (October 14) of Corrie that viewers got a big update on Joel, after three lads at a riverbank spotted a body floating in the water which PC Craig Tinker later announced to be the missing legal expert.
As the news was broken to the likes of Lauren and Dee-Dee, it was Kit who later confirmed Joel was dead when he went in the water, turning the case into a murder investigation.
During Wednesday’s (October 16) trip to the cobbles, Kit reveals to Lisa that Joel died from two blows to the head, inflicted by a heavy weapon, most likely a crowbar. So Swain was shocked to discover from Yasmeen Metcalfe that she had thrown Mason Radcliffe out because he had a crowbar.
She went back to the station to encourage Kit to look into the possible lead and later, as the teen disposed of the tool in a bin, he was caught in the act by Kit. Hauled in for question, Kit asked Mason who admitted he threw out the crowbar after refusing to do a burglary for his brothers and was squatting in Speed Daal alone on the night Joel was killed.
It was suggested that he may have had motive thanks to his relationship with Betsy Swain and in a flashback clip, it appeared Mason wasn’t quite telling the truth about not being interested in Betsy as she was seen visiting him in tears and scared that Joel was going to come after her as Mason vowed to protect her on the night Joel was killed.
Then, as Dee-Dee spoke to Ronnie about the details of Joel’s murder, a flashback clip revealed what he was up to the night Joel died, ahead of Friday’s episode teasing he may have been at Joel’s flat. In his flashback, Ronnie was seen angrily rummaging through a toolbox in Ed’s builder’s yard. He eventually came across a crowbar, raising it in the air.
But on Friday morning (October 18), as the new episode of Corrie launched on ITVX ahead of airing at 8pm the same evening on ITV, it was confirmed that two new suspects have been brought into the frame.
When Kit arrives at Ronnie’s birthday party to question both him and brother Ed about their whereabouts on the night of Joel’s disappearance, both men claim they were at home. However, viewers are taken back to the night of September 27th where a shocking flashback sees the brothers meet up and drive off under the cover of darkness taking a crowbar with them.
Feeling the heat as the police ramp up their enquiries, we later see Joel’s wronged ex Dee-Dee break down before her own flashback reveals a haunted Dee-Dee reliving the moment she came face to face with Joel that fateful night.
But it seems Corrie fans are still convinced that Joel might not be dead. Robyn Munro wrote on Facebook: “There’s no way this is how it ends for him. I’m still waiting for the twist where it wasn’t actually his body and he comes back. He was such an amazing character to have just been found floating down the river is weird and not the ending that fits.”
Kevin Hudson predicted: “He’s not even dead, he’s blackmailing Kit, when you last saw Joel he had a gash on his cheek, that knocked out a tooth, that tooth he gave to Joel, the dead body was that of a vagrant, Kit handed over the tooth for I’d! In the build up to Joel disappearing he was faking his remorse and the cameras zoomed in to emphasis his facial expressions after each act, Corrie wouldn’t go to that much detail just for him to be wiped out; he’s alive!” Mary Walker added: “There has been no farewell video from Joel. I think he is still alive. Remember we though Lauren was dead, and she wasn’t.”