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Over the sixty-five years Corrie’s been on our screens, we’ve seen our fair share of killers grace the eponymous street, committing their dastardly deeds in all manner of ways, from hit-and-runs, to shootings, to simple but effective beatings with various objects.
Some residents, however, have been deadly enough to earn the label of a serial killer, being responsible for multiple deaths, and we’ve compiled a list of them:
Richard Hillman
Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) was most recently seen in Gail Platt’s final episode on Christmas Day, appearing in a dream as she dozed on the sofa, still dripping with water from the canal he drowned in after driving his car — with Gail, David, Sarah, and Bethany inside — into it in an attempt to kill them all. This act was the final one in a long series of murders and murder attempts during his reign of terror from 2002 to 2003.
It started with Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe), although Richard didn’t exactly murder his business partner. Angry with Duggie for cutting corners when converting The Ridings into luxury flats, Richard confronted him in one of the flats. When Duggie leaned on one of the banisters, it collapsed and he fell several floors and hit the ground. Richard was about to call an ambulance, but decided to leave Duggie for dead, stealing his keys and emptying his safe for good measure. He covered his tracks, returning the keys, and met Gail in the pub.
Richard’s first proper victim was his ex-wife, Patricia Hillman (Annabelle Apsion), who turned up demanding money for her share of Richard’s property business, Kellet Holdings. She threatened to tell both Gail and the police of Richard’s past crimes, so he hit her over the head with a shovel, which killed her instantly. She fell in a ditch at the Ridings and he buried her in cement, identifying another woman’s body as Patricia so he felt secure in the knowledge that the police wouldn’t be looking for her.
Urgency for money led to Richard attempting to kill Gail’s mother, Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls), so that he and Gail would inherit her money. He first unsettled Audrey by doing things such as stealing the keys to the salon and leaving them in the door, stealing her dress and taking it to the dry cleaners, and leaving the radio on in her house. All this was in an attempt to convince her, and everyone else, that she was losing her wits. He set her house on fire one night whilst she was asleep, making it look like he’d left a pot on the stove. Steve McDonald and Archie Shuttleworth saved Audrey from the fire, and she realised that her son-in-law was behind both this and her recent memory problems. She went to the police, but Gail wouldn’t believe her and shunned her as a result.
Richard next set his sights on Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire), whose house he would inherit after her death due to her signing up to his equity release scheme. He almost smothered her with a pillow after learning she was alone at Christmas, but Rita Tanner walked in before he could act. His next attempt on Emily’s life was when she was babysitting for the Peacocks during a party at the Rovers. He set it up to look like a burglary gone wrong, framing Sarah Platt’s boyfriend Aidan Critchley by stealing his jacket and shoes. He struck Emily over the head with a crowbar, but Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw) walked in moments afterwards. After delivering the chilling line, “You should’ve stayed at the party, Maxine”, he chased her up the stairs and beat her to death with the same crowbar.
Emily survived the attack, but had no memory of it, and Richard’s guilt began to catch up with him after his money troubles were solved when an elderly client of his from the equity release scheme died. Gail began to grow suspicious of her husband after learning that he’d lied about several aspects of Patricia’s death and confronted him, calling him “Norman Bates with a briefcase”.
Richard then went on the run, but returned to the street a couple of weeks later for his final act of malice, driving into the canal with Gail, her children, and her granddaughter. He was the only one not to be rescued by Tommy Harris and Martin Platt, and Gail only went to his funeral to be certain he was dead.
Stephen Reid
From Coronation Street’s first serial killer to its most recent, we move on to Stephen Reid (Todd Boyce), Audrey’s illegitimate son and, therefore, also connected to Gail through being her half-brother. He first set foot in Weatherfield in 1996, making brief visits to see his family over several years, but became a permanent resident in 2022 after the Platts were concerned for Audrey’s wellbeing.
Although David initially sent him away after a few weeks, Stephen’s financial troubles brought him back to the cobbles as he was after his mother’s money, although he did such a good job of convincing his family that he was still wealthy that Audrey wrote him out of her will.
When Leo Thompkins (Joe Frost) found out about a kiss that had happened between Stephen and Jenny Connor, his now fiancée, he began to follow Stephen, learning that he had tried to sell his mother’s house out from under her. Leo revealed to Stephen that he knew everything and intended to call the police on the gantry outside Underworld, and Stephen responded by slamming his head against a railing and pushing him over the side, which killed him, covering up his crimes by making it look like Leo had gone travelling off the grid.
Teddy Thompkins (Grant Burgin), who was Leo’s father, began to suspect Stephen of being involved in his son’s disappearance after a physical altercation between them, but ended up in hospital after stumbling backwards into the road and being hit by a van. Stephen tried to finish him off by squeezing his oxygen tube, but Jenny interrupted him, but when Teddy woke up he couldn’t remember anything about the accident. He gradually got his memory back, though, and confronted Stephen in Underworld, promising to go to the police. Stephen hit him over the back of the head with a hole puncher, which instantly killed him. He stuffed Teddy’s body in Audrey’s roof box and dumped it in the canal.
Now in a managerial position at Underworld, Stephen began spiking Carla Connor’s coffee with LSD to manipulate her and her shareholders into believing that her mental health problems had returned. Rufus Donahue (Stephen Meo) was a rival of the business and worked out what Stephen had done, blackmailing him into taking Rufus’ offer despite it being less than the competition. Although Stephen worked out a deal where he would pretend to take the offer to encourage the other bidders to increase their price and then give Rufus the difference, Rufus later tried to void the deal, so Stephen drugged him with LSD and made it look like he’d drowned in his own swimming pool.
Stephen began a relationship with Elaine Jones (Paula Wilcox), Tim Metcalfe’s biological mother, wanting to marry her quickly in Las Vegas to get his hands on her savings. His plans came to a standstill when Audrey insisted on attending her son’s wedding. Stephen took out a life insurance policy on Elaine and replaced her blood pressure medication with caffeine pills. When Carla decided to sell the factory, Stephen came close to killing Owen Longford (Ben Hull) during an argument, but was interrupted by Elaine and Sarah. The caffeine pills having failed at their job, he planned to make it look like Elaine had taken her own life, but learned that the insurance company would take twelve months to pay out in that eventuality. Elaine eventually ended their relationship.
Stephen’s reign of terror came to an end when, after holding Jenny Connor (Sally-Ann Matthews) hostage in the Rovers and confessing to his crimes, he tried to flee the country to Thailand. Holding a broken bottle to Jenny’s throat, he forced David to bring him his car, but Jenny persuaded him to let her go. Seconds after this, he was run over by Peter Barlow’s cab and died despite Michael Bailey administering CPR.
Tracy Barlow
Ever a woman in a man’s world, Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) is Corrie’s only female serial killer to date, still roaming the cobbles today. Her first victim was boyfriend Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward), who cheated on her multiple times with various women. She decided to get revenge first by pretending to be a victim of his wrongdoings, staging arguments and even burning herself with an iron.
When Charlie beat Tracy’s brother Peter up, wrongfully assuming he was a man she had picked up, he was charged with assault, but only got community service. She distracted him by giving him a lap dance, then hit him over the head with an ornament. In an attempt to cover her tracks, she placed a knife in Charlie’s hand and phoned the police, claiming she was acting in self-defence. It took Charlie a couple of days to die, but when he did, Tracy was charged with murder and went to prison for three years, being released early when the forensics expert that put her away was exposed as a fraud.
In 2015, a few years after being released, despite saving her from a minibus crash a few months prior, Tracy broke into Carla’s flat in the middle of the night and attempted to kill her for ruining her chances at buying the Rovers. Unaware that her daughter Amy was in the flat too, she fled when she heard the toilet flush but left a candle burning too close to a lamp, causing the flat to catch fire.
Although both Carla and Amy made it out alive, Kal Nazir (Jimi Mistry) wasn’t so lucky, having gone with Leanne Battersby to rescue Amy. Just as he was about to climb the rickety ladder to safety from the balcony, there was an explosion and his body was later found. The other casualty of the fire was Maddie Heath (Amy James-Kelly), who was caught in an explosion at the builder’s yard that was caused by the fire Tracy set. Tracy only confessed to being the one to start the blaze when Carla reached her lowest and was about to jump into a quarry, but there was no evidence and she went unpunished by the law.
Gary Windass
Now married to Maria and a father figure to her son Liam, Gary Windass (Mikey North) turned killer in 2019. Although he didn’t mean to hurt anyone with his actions, he sabotaged the factory roof when desperate for work, hoping that he would be employed to fix it. Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia), who was due to marry Underworld boss Carla’s sister Kate Connor, left the rings in the factory and went back to retrieve them, but the roof collapsed with her inside.
Kate managed to get in and the pair exchanged their vows, but Rana died shortly afterwards, with this causing Carla to suffer from psychosis over the guilt of knowing the roof was unsafe, thinking she was to blame. Viewers only found out Gary was responsible for the collapse several months afterwards, when he confessed in a voicemail to Sarah in what he thought would be one of his final moments, having been kidnapped by loan shark Rick Neelan (Greg Wood).
Gary escaped from Rick’s capture, although was led back to him when he believed that he had Sarah, with a meeting taking place in the woods. Gary discovered that Rick intended to bury him alive, having dug him a grave, but the pair fought, with Gary eventually winning. He was later shown burying Rick’s body. Sarah told the police of his crime, but Rick’s body wasn’t found as Gary had managed to move him to a building site. Three years later, Rick’s dying ex-wife Laura confessed to his murder, leaving Gary in the clear.
One of Gary’s debtors, Derek Milligan (Craige Els), went on a shooting spree in an attempt to kill him, but Robert Preston (Tristan Gemmill) ended up getting shot and killed instead. As Gary and Derek fought over the gun, with Shona Platt and Gary himself getting shot during the struggle, Derek fell from a roof. Despite Gary’s best efforts to pull him back up, he plummeted to his death.
John Stape
Ex-husband of Fiz Dobbs and father of child arsonist Hope, John Stape (Graeme Hawley) had more than a brush with the law before he turned killer, having had a relationship with Rosie Webster, one of his pupils, and kidnapping her, which led to him spending time in Highfield Prison.
Colin Fishwick (David Crellin) was an old colleague of John’s whose identity he stole after he left to go to Canada. This meant John was able to teach again despite his conviction, but he crossed paths with another ex-colleague, Charlotte Hoyle (Becky Hindley), a few months later. He confessed all to her and she told him Colin was returning. John tried to pay Colin off, but he was unhappy with the amount of money he received and decided to call the police, but collapsed with a brain haemorrhage before he got the chance. John wrapped Colin’s body in a carpet and hid it in a hole at the recently exploded factory, finding out the next day that the hole had been filled with cement by builders
Charlotte showed up at John’s house a few months later, demanding he leave Fiz to be with her. He refused and she grabbed a hammer, swinging it at him, but he managed to get it from her hands. When she threatened to run off and tell Fiz, he hit her with the hammer and was about to call 999 when the explosion at The Joinery caused a tram to crash. Covering his tracks, he left Charlotte’s body in the wreckage and her parents, who believed he was her boyfriend, allowed him to decide to turn off her life support as she was brain damaged.
Due to his guilt, John started doing odd jobs for Joy Fishwick (Doreen Mantle), Colin’s ill mother, and confessed to what he had done to her son when she began to grow suspicious. He withheld her angina spray until she agreed not to tell the police, covering her mouth with his hand so she couldn’t shout for a neighbour, but this caused her to die. Joy’s death was treated as natural and John wasn’t found out, but this caused him to have a breakdown which led to him being sectioned.
Things began to fall apart for John as Colin’s body was to be dug up due to a problem with the pipes at the factory. Fiz discovered him digging Colin up himself and he confessed to what he had done to him, persuading his wife to run away with him. She agreed, until she overheard him tell Chesney and Charlotte’s parents that he’d killed both Charlotte and Joy. He snuck into the hospital as Fiz pretended to go along with his plan to run away, but he worked out her deception and escaped onto the roof with Hope. He jumped off, having handed his daughter to Fiz, and was presumed dead, but he survived the fall and went on the run, leaving Fiz to take the blame for his crimes.
A few months later, he returned to Weatherfield and kidnapped Rosie, confessing his involvement in the three deaths so she could tell the court and Fiz, who was on trial, would be let off. Kevin came after John, who crashed his car trying to evade him. In a critical condition in hospital, he confessed to the police his part in Colin’s death and died.
Tony Gordon
Carla’s second husband and keen businessman, Tony Gordon (Gray O’Brien) watched his father have a heart attack in his youth, doing nothing to help and watching him slowly die. Siege Week, where he held Hayley Cropper and Carla hostage inside the factory, blowing it up and dying in the flames of the fire he lit, is still legendary in Coronation Street history.
In 2008, Tony became convinced that Carla, his fiancée at the time, and Liam Connor (Rob James-Collier) were having a relationship, and was proved right when he was shown a video of them kissing by Rosie. Tony hired his friend Jimmy Dockerson to run Liam over on his stag night, stealing his wallet and convincing him that he’d left it in the pub so he would go out again. The impact killed Liam instantly and Tony took the money from his wallet before dropping it in the canal.
Jed Stone (Kenneth Cope) teamed up with Maria, who became convinced that Tony was behind her husband’s death, as he had been forced out of his home by the businessman some months earlier. Jed confronted Tony, who accidentally confessed to ordering the hit on Liam and then strangled him. Thinking he was dead, Tony put his body into a hamper, but returned the next day to find him alive. He took Jed to Wigan and made him promise to never come back to Weatherfield.
Carla grew suspicious of her husband and one night, after locking them both in the factory, he confessed to his crime, promising to hand himself in to the police as long as she stayed by his side. When she ended things, he handed her a knife and asked her to kill him. She told him she could never forgive him and ran, getting into her car and driving away. He got close to Maria, helping deliver her baby and embarking on a relationship with her, which caught Carla’s attention, who returned and threatened to go to the police. Tony set Jimmy on Carla, but changed his mind and raced to stop him. Carla hit Jimmy over the head with a candlestick and Tony let her believe that she’d killed him.
Tony confessed his wrongdoings to Roy Cropper (David Neilson), who told him to go to the police multiple times. Fed up with Roy’s interfering, Tony threatened him and his wife Hayley, but this backfired when they went to the police about the threat. Tony decided to murder Roy, first goading him by making it seem like he’d attacked Hayley. When Roy went for him, Tony threw him in the canal, knowing he couldn’t swim, but changed his mind at the last minute and dived in to save him. He then went to the police station and confessed to murder.
Tony escaped from prison a few months after being sentenced with his cellmate Robbie Sloane (James Fleet), who held Carla and Hayley hostage in the factory. Tony shot Robbie dead after an argument, then let Hayley go as he wanted to die with Carla, setting the factory alight. Carla, however, managed to escape and shot Tony with his gun when he tried to stop her. He walked back into the fire as the factory exploded, killing him.
Pat Phelan
Last on our list, and arguably the most morally bankrupt, is Scouse builder and criminal Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre), who terrorised the cobbles over several years, clashing with Owen Armstrong and Gary and Anna Windass during his original stint from 2013 to 2014. When he returned in 2016, he began a relationship with Eileen Grimshaw, having driven her son Jason into leaving Weatherfield.
Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis), who was Eileen’s ex-partner, attempted to take down Phelan for good, breaking into his office and finding fake passports, which were evidence of his misdeeds. Phelan arrived and, in fear, Michael threw a chair at him before running out of the office, where he collapsed due to a heart attack. Phelan watched instead of calling an ambulance as Michael lay dying, recalling a story about an animal he’d injured in his youth and how he’d been unable to put it out of its misery.
Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth) correctly suspected Phelan’s involvement in his father figure’s death and attacked him, knocking him unconscious. Phelan used this to blackmail Andy, threatening to report him for attempted murder, and Andy began doing his dirty deeds for him. On Phelan’s wedding day to Eileen, however, Andy snapped and hit him with a laptop, with Phelan pretending to be unconscious from the blow before grabbing Andy, fighting him and hitting him with the same laptop.
Phelan held Andy captive in his basement for months on end, then found out that the man he knew as “Vinny Ashford” (Ian Kelsey), who had double-crossed him and ran off with his money, was actually named Harvey McArdle because he used his mother to persuade him to return. When “Vinny” did return, Phelan kidnapped him and chained him in the basement with Andy, promising the latter’s freedom if he killed him with a gun. Andy obliged, but once he had, Phelan turned the gun on him and killed him too.
Luke Britton (Dean Fagan), who was close with Andy, began to question his friend’s “disappearance”, confronting Phelan which led to them attacking each other. After a car chase, which ended with Phelan crashing Luke’s car, he shot him in the chest, confessing to killing Andy before shooting two bullets into the petrol tank of Luke’s car, which caused the vehicle to explode and killed Luke.
Phelan found out that the Legacy Reach Paper Mill, where he’d hidden the bodies, was due to be renovated, and the pond they’d been left in was to be drained. He took a job on the site and dumped the bodies in the foundations, burying them in concrete, although he fell in himself and was dragged out by Eileen and Tim. The bodies were found shortly after, and Phelan confessed all to his wife, opening her eyes to who he truly was. He lunged at her, but broke a railing and almost fell into the sea, clinging onto a rope. As he climbed his way back to land, Eileen stamped on his hands causing him to fall.
He survived the fall and went on to create an account on an online forum for mothers-to-be so he could keep in touch with his daughter, Nicola Rubinstein, but Gary and his friend from the army, Joe Haslam, found him out and kidnapped him, tying him up in a dark room at the builder’s yard. Phelan taunted Gary, who hit him with a wooden plank, but when Gary’s back was turned, Phelan managed to untie himself and hit his kidnapper over the head with a chair, getting a pistol he’d hidden and threatening them both with it, before deciding to tie them up instead.
Having escaped, he went to confront Nicola, wanting to see his grandson Zack, but Seb Franklin attacked him from behind, causing the gun to go off and Nicola to be shot. Phelan carried his daughter to the Bistro, where Michelle Connor and Robert Preston were getting married, to try and get GP Ali Neeson to save his daughter’s life. When he heard sirens, he took Michelle as a hostage, shooting her when she tried to get away. Anna stabbed him in the chest and he removed it, trying to ensure she’d go down for murder and letting himself bleed to death. Anna said that her actions were self-defence and Michelle vowed to back her up, depriving Phelan of his final victory.
The next generation?
With Mason Radcliffe set to be stabbed by his brothers Matty and Logan in upcoming scenes, and DS Lisa Swain suspecting them of being involved in her late wife’s death, could this nasty pair be next to join this list? Only time will tell, but new boss Kate Brooks promises a wealth of explosive new stories in 2025.
