John Stape

John Stape was the on/off boyfriend of Fiz Brown and villainous character. John had kidnapped Rosie Webster, leading to him being locked up. Upon release, he stole his ex-colleague Colin's identity, and hid his dead body. He killed Charlotte Hoyle and accidently COlin's mum Joy.

After a mental breakdown, he was released but the truth began to come out. Being cornered, John jumped from a hospital roof, however somehow survived and fled the country leaving Fiz to be blamed. Later in the year he returned when Fiz was put on trial for three murders.

1979-2008: Relationship with Fiz, Affair with Rosie
John was an old boyfriend of Fiz Brown. He began teaching at Weatherfield High, and bumped into Fiz again when he was doing a play for Bugsy Malone. John gives Sally Webster lessons so she can re-do her A Levels, and she admits to him she has feelings, however John claims he isnt interested. John later begins to have an affair with Sally's 16 year old student daughter Rosie Webster, while still having a relationship with Fiz. They are nearly caught many times and Fiz suspects that John is up to something.

On Christmas 2007, John accidently swaps Fiz and Rosie's presents and gives Fiz's to Rosie. When Fiz opens hers, revealing Rosie's, she storms round to the house and believes it was Sally having the affair. But when it is revealed to be Rosie, her angry father Kevin attacks John in the street and beats him up. John manages to call an ambulance and Kevin is arrested for assault but is later released. John leaves the street.

2008-2009: Kidnapping Rosie and Prison Sentence
John returns in July 2008 wanting another chance with Fiz after he keeps phoning her. In September, John's grandmother passes away and he is left her house. When Fiz leaves him again, and John spots Rosie outside a night club, he bundles her into a taxi and drives her through the streets of Weatherfield, blaming her for all his misfortunes happening to him. But he takes her back home and when she tries to tell her parents what he done, he denies everything and everyone believes him. Sometime later, John kidnaps Rosie and locks her up in his dead gran's attic. But then Fiz decides to get back with him after John ends up in a car crash, but he realises that he has problems as he has Rosie.

After holding her in the attic for a few weeks, Rosie attacks John when Fiz comes round to the house to feed his "cat" (he used it as an excuse to visit Rosie) and John tries to explain what is happening. Fiz ends it with John and he is later arrested and kept in custody.

In January 2009, John is sentenced to two years in prison, and will be realible for parole in a year. Fiz attends the court to see John get sent down.

2009-2010: Reunited with Fiz and Release
When Fiz's younger brother Chesney was getting bullied at school in 2009, she decided to have him home schooled. She then decided to turn to John for advice, and John believed that Fiz was giving him another chance, but Fiz assured him they where only doing this for Chesney, which John agreed to.

However they began to fall for each other again and Fiz began having feelings for John. But when Chesney found out about what Fiz had been up to, and so did the Websters, John decided that he didnt want contact with Fiz as he didnt want her to fall out with her brother over him. Fiz attempted to try and contact John again, but he wanted nothing to do with her. John also got in contact with Rosie, and told her he was giving her £190,000 pounds from selling his dead grans house as compensation to her. Over time, John sunk into depression and became suicidal and was put on suicide watch. Declaring her love for him, Fiz chained herself to prison gates holding up a banister saying "I LOVE YOU JOHN STAPE". Happy, John accepted her and they both got proposed. They later got married in October that year, and John was released from prison the following month and moved back in with Fiz, much to the annoyance of Sally.

John got himself a job at Roy's Rolls, and Rosie attempted to get him sent back by making accusations that he tried to assualt her. But in the packed pub John managed to call her bluff and reveal her as a liar, putting everyone on him and Fiz's side.

2010-2011: Identity Fraud and becoming a killer
John attended the leaving party of his ex-teaching collegue Colin Fishwick in April 2010. Wanting to teach again, John stole some of Colin's stuff and devised a plan to set up a fake identity under his name in order to teach again, and thought nothing against it as Colin was leaving for Canada. John managed to secure himself a teaching job at Weatherfield High.

However a few months later, while attending a teaching conference, John crossed paths with another ex-collegue Charlotte Hoyle (who he last seen at Colin's leaving do). He was forced to confess all, and she found it all exciting. She began to turn up at John's doorstep, much to the annoyance of Fiz who wanted rid of her. Charlotte later announced that Colin was returning, and John and her met him in the pub and John decided to confess what he had done. Colin was fine about it for the moment, but when a man turned up on John's doorstep thinking he was Colin (he was the reason Colin fled, as Colin had an affair with his wife), Fiz pointed the man in the right way and Colin ended up beaten. He then told John he wanted alot of money, or he would go the the police. John and Charlotte waited at John's house for Colin to arrive, and Colin wasnt happy with the amount of money John gave him and decided to phone the police, but later collapsed with a brain hemmorage. John then had him wrapped up in a carpet and got Charlotte to help him smuggle the body away. When she locked the keys of her car in the boot, they hid the body in a hole in the Underworld Factory (which was blown up by Tony Gordon a month earlier) and collect it in the morning. But when he returned, the hole was filled with cement by workmen, and he was relieved. Him and Charlotte got hold of Colin's stuff and burnt it. Fiz briefly left for a holiday, but returned to announce she was pregnant and they got back together. Charlotte stayed away as Fiz threatened her to keep away from John. John got himself a job at Peter Barlow's bookies.

In November 2010, he began recieving strange letters. His first suspect was Charlotte, but he realised she was recieving them as well. But then when looking through her drawers, he saw all the material she was using to send them. She then got him to live a double life with her, or else she would tell Fiz the truth, and John agreed. She then wanted him to split up with Fiz and move in with her, and John "agreed", only to keep her at bay. On the 6th December 2010, Charlotte turned up at the house and demanded John to leave Fiz for her, and when John refused, Charlotte grabbed a hammer and swung it at him. After he pryed it from her, she attempted to run of to tell Fiz, and John hit her with the hammer. When he attempted to dial 999, an explosion at the Joinery Bar caused a tram to crash into the street. John left for hospital with Fiz as she went into early labour and gave birth to a premature daughter, Hope. John later returned to the street and placed the body near the wreckage. At the hospital, Charlotte's parents Alan and Dorothy (believing John was Charlotte's boyfriend and also Colin) let him make the decision to turn of her life support as she was brain damaged, which John accepted.

John began doing odd-jobs for Colin's ill mother Joy as he felt guilt. When she began to get suspicious, John confessed the truth about what he did to Colin. When she needed her angina spray, he withheld it until she agreed not to tell the police and held his hand over her mouth to stop her shouting for a neighbour at the door, which caused her death. Her death was treated as natural and John wasn't found out. However he had a breakdown and had to be sectioned and spent the next 2 months in hospital. When he got out, he got to see his daughter Hope who was let out of hospital.

2011: The Truth unravels
John began to have another breakdown when Joy's soliciter turned up wanting to talk to Fiz and "Colin" (he had t pretend to be Colin again). At the bookies, a police officer walked in wanting to talk to Peter but John believed the policeman came for him and he hid away locking himself in the office. When Peter went to get Fiz, John fled the street. He took "Colin's" bank card from the house and withdrawed £500 pounds and shoved it through Charlotte's parents letterbox, and was caught by them. They took him inside and realised he was in a bad place, and phoned Fiz (not realising Fiz was infact his wife) to collect him. John eventually confessed to Fiz that Charlotte had been stalking him and he blames himself for her death, as she was with him on the night of the tram crash, but didn't tell Fiz he was the one who killed her. Chesney got suspicious and began investigating John, and realised he was hanging around when Joy's neighbour discovered her dead. Chesney went to see the Hoyles, and gave them the address of where John is.

The Hoyles turned up but John decided to go back to their place. In Alan Hoyle's cellar, which he converted into a bar, he confronted John and revealed he knew he was lying and asked him why he was wearing a wedding ring. Before John can explain, Dorothy turned up with his wallet, and revealed his true identity as John Stape, not Colin. John tied them up, and later lured Chesney into the cellar before tying him up as well. He planned on escaping and told Fiz that Colin had returned to town. But he was shocked to discover that Colin was about to be dug up at Underworld as their was problems with the pipes and the floor needed to be dug up. He persuded Owen Armstrong to give him a job and later on at night, dug up the floor himself getting hold of Colin's body, only to be discovered by Fiz. He revealed the truth about Colin, and got her to help him dispose of the body by threatening to bring her down with him if she went to the police. They disposed of the body in the canal and Fiz decided to accept and flee the street with him. But when they find out Katy, Chesney's girlfriend, is about to abort their baby, John panics and tries to convince her not to, and heads back to the cellar, only to find Chesney and the Hoyles untied. Chesney threatens John with a bar stool, calling his bluff that John will kill them,and John confessed that he killed both Charlotte and Joy Fishwick, only for Fiz to appear at the top of the stairs, hearing every word. Angry and upset, John flees back to Coronation Street and tries to take Hope off of Maria and nearly attacks her, but escapes out the back door when Fiz, Kirk and the police arrive at the door. But John ends up hiding out in the attic while a large manhunt begins when his secrets come out. He snatches his daughter Hope when caught by Fiz, and makes a run for it and Fiz it hit by Owen's van when coming after him.

Disguised as a doctor, John sneaks into the hospital and tries to convince Fiz to run away with him. She pretends to go along with it, but presses the panic button alerting a nurse. John, realising what she has done, escapes to the hospital roof still with Hope. Fiz and the police reach the roof, and John states he only wanted to teach, which has led to many deaths. Fiz begs him to hand over Hope, which he does. But then he stands on the edge of the roof and throws himself off, and is persumably killed after hitting the bottom. However he somehow survives, and police break the news to Fiz that John's body wasnt there when they went to collect it. John later went on the run to Ireland leaving Fiz to be blamed by police and accused of murder and locked up until her trial.

A few months after he fled Weatherfield, he returned when Fiz was eventually put on trial accused of killing Colin, Charlotte and Joy.

Fiz Brown
Prior to their reunion in 2007, Fiz and John where in a relationship many years before, but had lost contact. When John began to teach at Fiz's younger brother Chesney's High school, they where together once again. But John's lying and deeds split him and Fiz up several times, such as him having an affair with 16 year old student Rosie Webster, which was revealed on Christmas.

When John returned again in late 2008, Fiz's brother Chesney didn't like John due to his treatment of Fiz, and even claimed he hit him even though John was defending him from bullies. Fiz later supported John after his grandmother's death, but realised she couldnt trust him. This caused him to kidnap Rosie, but then Fiz wanted him back, and the truth wasn't discovered till Fiz went to feed his cat (which was an excuse to go and see Rosie).

While spending time in prison, Fiz visited him to get advice on homeschooling Chesney but they fell in love once again, which angered Chesney plus the Websters, but John and Fiz later got engaged and married in prison. John was released and went back to live with her. But Fiz stuck by him when he decided to steal his ex-teaching friend Colin Fishwick's identity. When he was stalked by Charlotte Hoyle, Fiz had enough and left for a holiday, but returned when finding out she was pregnant and John gave up his teaching job, unaware to Fiz that John had concealed the real Colin's body beneath Underworld. But their premature daughter was born in December 2010 when a tram crashed into the street when she feared John was killed. Unknown to her, he hit Charlotte with a hammer and put her body onto the crash sight. John began to slowly deteroate and visited Colin's sick mother Joy, and killed her by accident after confessing the truth. John went into a hospital after a breakdown, and Fiz ended up claiming Joy's inheritence to look after Hope, who was later released from hospital. John later was let out and was back with them both.

However in June 2011, John's secrets came out when Chesney visited Charlotte's parents the Hoyles, and John locked them in a cellar. Fiz followed John there and was shocked when hearing him confessing the truth about murdering Charlotte and Joy. He fled and later snatched Hope, but he handed her over on a hospital roof (Fiz ended up in hospital being hit by a van) and John jumped. Fiz was devestated over the whole incident, but was given the news John vanished and was on the run. She was left to take the rap for the Identity Fraud and stealing Joy's money, although she was cleared for being part of the murder.

Rosie Webster
Rosie was the pupil of John and they embarked in an affair. This wasn't discovered till Chriistmas which led to Rosie's dad Kevin beating John up and later being charged.

A year later, John ended up kidnapping Rosie and blaming her for ruining his life with Fiz, and kept her imprisoned in his dead Gran's attic for 5 weeks. Rosie managed to escape by hitting John over the head and escaped with the help of Fiz. John was later imprisoned for the abduction, but later was released and moved back with Fiz to Coronation Street after marrying her when they got back together. Rosie attempted to have John arrested again by claiming he tried to touch her, but the residents saw through her lies when the story didn't add up, and John was later accepted back into the community.

Rosie still resented John over it and brought it up time to time to put him down.

Role in the Community
Despite his dodgy deeds, John has still played a part in the community when people gradually accepted him. Shortly after getting out of prison in 2009, Claire Peacock and Becky McDonald asked John to help them organise a charity Christmas play for the Rovers Return. John had helped to write the script, the play being Cinderella, and helped with the casting and directing.

Quotes
"Nice to meet you" (First Line to Kevin Webster)