Lauren ‘exposes’ her threatening blackmailer in Coronation Street – and it’s someone close
Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) is feeling nervous on Coronation Street as she keeps getting threatening texts since she stole and crashed Tracy Barlow’s (Kate Ford) van.
When Lauren saw Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) destroying the contests of Tracy’s van, she jumped into the van to try to stop her. Betsy has been furious with Tracy ever since she was accidentally shot after Tracy harboured Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis) in her house.
Tracy came out to the van and, in a panic, Lauren started the vehicle and drove off before Tracy could see what was going on. A short while later she crashed.
Because Lauren has been in trouble with the law before and could have faced a prison sentence, Betsy said she’d take the blame and told Lauren to leave the scene as a police officer approached.
Betsy felt convinced that she wouldn’t face any serious consequences for what had happened, even though her mum Lisa (Vicky Myers) was suspicious about how Betsy, who’d never had a driving lesson, could have managed to drive the van with one arm.
Lauren couldn’t relax for long, though, as she quickly received a text saying, ‘I know you stole the van!’
As the threatening texts kept coming, Lauren had to confide in someone and told Bobby (Jack Carroll) what had happened with the van. She told him she was getting mysterious and worrying texts.
In upcoming episodes the texts seem to have stopped, but Lauren tells Bobby she feels that the blackmailer is just biding their time before making their next move.
That move comes soon enough, as a text arrives demanding £200 and threatening to report Lauren to the police if she doesn’t come up with the money.
Lauren now has a strong suspicion that she knows who the blackmailer is. She shows Betsy the texts and tells her that she thinks the person behind the texts is Bobby.
Bobby has always had a soft spot for Lauren and at one point it seemed like a romance might develop between them. This ended abruptly when Lauren disappeared, triggering a huge hunt for her.
Bobby has supported Lauren since she was found and the truth about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Joel Deering (Calum Lill) came out. But does he still have romantic feelings towards her and could this blackmail be a misguided way of getting closer to Lauren?
She certainly thinks so and decides to set a trap. She plants some fake cash for her blackmailer, and waits to see if Bobby will be the one to pick it up.
Will he take the bait?
