Vincent Baxter

Vincent Baxter was a children's officer who investigated when Terry Bates ran away from council care. Terry went to Rita Littlewood's flat as she had been the only person to really care for him in his life. She hid the boy from social services, wanting to protect him and possibly foster him. She asked for Ken Barlow's help but he advised her to give the child up, telling her that Baxter had visited Bessie Street School and dropped hints that the penalty for keeping Terry was six months imprisonment, a £100 or both. Rita then turned to Len Fairclough but he also told her that she had no choice but to alert the authorities. Baxter was called to her flat where they all put on a pretence of Terry having just turned up. Baxter was genial and sympathetic to Terry, saying to the boy that he’d given them a run for his money. He also said he knew why he'd run away as Terry had bet him 5p that Manchester United wouldn’t get relegated and now he was scared he'd have to pay as the season end was approaching. They quibbled over the league scores, and Baxter genuinely thought that Terry had only wanted to visit Rita. He praised the lady herself saying that she had acted most responsibly and Terry could meet her any time he liked. Nevertheless, after Baxter left with Terry, Rita broke down.