Simon Lang

Simon Lang was an unwitting dupe in Joe Carter's plan to bankrupt Mike Baldwin and buy out the Underworld business from him. Joe set up a dummy company - Artrec - who were a supposed supplier of materials to Underworld. Mike would then pay invoices for the non-existent goods but in reality was paying large sums of money directly to Joe. These sums increased further when Joe's partner in crime, Karen McDonald, started forging Mike's signature on further cheques. As their crime was reaching its successful conclusion and only a few days were needed for the final forged cheque to clear through the bank, Mike caused a problem when a holiday in Ireland fell through and he declared his intention to instead carry out a long-delayed stock check in the factory. Afraid that Mike would quickly spot the empty shelf space, Joe hurriedly arranged a "forgotten" business lunch with himself, Mike and Simon in the hope that several hours of food and drink would make Mike forget his intention. A slightly puzzled Mike went along for the lunch but Joe panicked further when Mike suddenly left the two men in the Rovers when another round was being bought at the bar, telling Simon that he had his stock check to see to.