Christian Higginson was the father of Eli, a lad who together with Jay Dowling, was charged with GBH for assaulting Nina Lucas on Harper Street one night in May 2021. Even more seriously, just a matter of yards away at the same time, Corey Brent kicked Nina's boyfriend, Seb Franklin, to death in a linked assault. Both he and Kelly Neelan were charged with murder with each accusing the other of the crime.
Corey's rich father, publisher Stefan Brent, was determined that his son would go free and bought the most expensive legal team he could to obtain a not guilty verdict for his son. At the same time, he pulled strings behind the scenes by employing Christian in a well paid job in his firm as a "senior logistics consultant" whereas previous only been a delivery driver. In return, Eli gave sworn evidence at the trial that stated that Kelly was the one who had assaulted Seb while Corey tried to stop her.
Seb's mother, Abi, became suspicious of the man when he suddenly appeared in Stefan's company on the day that Eli gave his perjured evidence. Setting to work far into the night to discover who he was, she trawled through social media and "LinkedIn"-type accounts on the internet and found the recent connection between the two men as Christian boasted of his new job, friendship and activities such as membership of a golf club and clay pigeon shooting. She informed the police of her findings, but they came the conclusion that his new employment was above board when they investigated the matter. Stefan's strategy worked and Kelly was the one found guilty of the crime.
A couple of months later, and after new evidence emerged proving Corey's guilt, he and Stefan prepared to flee the country, with Stefan asking Christian to help drive them to safety on a boat where they could hide out. However, before he could leave, he was intercepted by Gary Windass after Abi had both begged his assistance and given him Christian's details. After a beating, Gary forced Christian to meet Corey and Stefan and hand the van keys over to him, after which he drove the pair to Weatherfield Police Station to face justice.
List of appearances[]
2021