Monster Neil EXPOSED!
Bethany confides in friend Craig about the twisted copper’s involvement in Nathan’s paedophile ring
Craig won’t let it drop, and she’s exhausted from keeping it to herself
Heroes come in many different shapes and sizes. Could Bethany Platt’s turn out to be a mild-mannered, ginger-haired teenager whose best friend, up until recently, was his pet rat?
The special constable isn’t quite as dopey as he looks and, as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Neil, he quizzes Bethany – who reveals that his Sergeant was one of the men who raped her.
Aside from Craig and Bethany, Neil has fooled everyone into thinking that he’s a pillar of the community – especially Sarah.
She assumes that he has Bethany’s best interests at heart, and doesn’t think twice about asking him to come round to have a chat with her traumatised daughter.
Little does she realise that as ‘Mr Respectable’ takes Bethany aside for a talk, he’s actually threatening the teen to lie about what happened at Nathan’s flat.
‘Bethany’s scared of Neil, but she has to try to hide her fear in front of her mum, who doesn’t know why he’s really there or what Neil is capable of,’ reveals Lucy Fallon, who plays the frightened schoolgirl.
Craig isn’t as easily fooled as Sarah, though. As he spots
Neil leaving number 8 and sees an upset Bethany through the window, he smells a rat and does some digging. He soon discovers that Neil’s visits to Bethany haven’t been officially recorded, and confronts his mentor as to why that’s the case.
Neil’s rattled, and tells Craig to mind his own business. Of course, that only makes Craigy all the more suspicious. He calls in to see Bethany and asks her about Neil, and she breaks down and admits that he was one of the men Nathan forced her to have sex with.
‘Craig won’t let it drop, and she’s exhausted from keeping it to herself,’ says Lucy. ‘She feels that she can trust him.’
Craig’s horrified and resolves to report Neil for his crimes. But he’s faced with a dilemma when Bethany tells him that Neil threatened to hurt her family if she blabbed about the truth.
As Sarah and Gary go on a mission to gather evidence against Nathan, Bethany urges Craig to keep quiet. Conflicted, he heads to the station and tells his Chief Inspector that he wants to quit.
As he leaves, Neil catches up with him and feeds him a pack of lies in a bid to cover his back. But will Craig believe him?