Elsie was the foster daughter of Imran Habeeb and Toyah Battersby.
Elsie's home life was incredibly troubled; she was a victim of physical and mental abuse, which ultimately led her to be placed in Toyah and Imran's care by social services in October 2021. Shortly beforehand, a teenage foster daughter of theirs, Kelly Neelan, had been wrongly imprisoned for the violent murder of Seb Franklin, while the real culprit Corey Brent walked free.
On the day Elsie was due to arrive, Imran had admitted to Toyah that he'd had a one-night stand on the night of Kelly's verdict, having blamed himself for her predicament as he was also her lawyer, and his ex-wife Sabeen had used the incident to blackmail him into helping with an appeal for convicted drug dealer Harvey Gaskell, who had forced Toyah's sister Leanne to work for him. When Elsie was dropped off by social worker Lou Breslin, Toyah had walked out from the shock of what Imran had told her. She eventually returned that evening and put on a show of normality for Elsie's sake, but later told Imran that when Elsie was to move on, she wanted him out as well.
In November, Kelly's conviction was overturned following the discovery of new evidence against Corey. Now free, she asked to move back in with Imran and Toyah, but Lou informed the couple that Elsie's background meant she had to be the sole child in her foster home, meaning that one of the two girls would have to move out. Toyah decided that it would be Elsie who would have to leave, as a young child would be easier to take in by other foster parents than a teenager recently out of prison. When Kelly learned of this, she decided she would be the one to move out, as she didn't want to be one of the people responsible for Elsie having a difficult start to her life. Just before moving into her new supported accommodation, Kelly had persuaded Toyah to forgive Imran and take him back.
In February 2022, Lou offered for Toyah and Imran to adopt Elsie. They wanted to take up the offer, although Toyah's conditions to Imran were that they get married and he didn't keep any more secrets from her. A few weeks later, Imran's one-night-stand, their neighbour Abi Webster, gave birth to a premature boy she named Alfie, not having been aware she was pregnant. Toyah was oblivious that Imran was Alfie's father as he hadn't revealed the identity of the woman he slept with, but she learned the truth in April when Imran put his name on the birth certificate, and Abi's husband Kevin saw the document and informed her just before the adoption hearing for Elsie. During the hearing, Toyah announced to Imran and Lou that she knew the truth about Alfie's parentage and couldn't go through with the adoption as she feared that Imran would harm Elsie with his lies.
A few days later, having ended her relationship with Imran, Toyah asked Lou if she could adopt Elsie on her own, but was told that her current troubles in relation to Imran wouldn't be in Elsie's best interests. Toyah was forced to accept that Elsie would have to move on, and explained to her that she would soon be living with a new family, also allowing Imran to see her briefly to say goodbye. As Lou took Elsie to live with her new foster family, Toyah was left distraught at losing the child she had always wanted.
- The character was uncredited in all appearances except for Episode 10588/9 (16th March 2022) and featured in a voice-only capacity in the second half of Episode 10600/1 (30th March 2022).
List of appearances[]
2021
2022