Leah Buckley was the stepdaughter of Gina Seddon.
Leah was in attendance at Weatherfield Town Hall for Sally Metcalfe's talk on LGBTQI rights during April 2017. At the time of the speech, Sally was being harassed by an internet troll who had tricked her into thinking her breast cancer had returned, sent her a pig's heart in the post and had an obituary posted for her in the Gazette. Sally's daughters Rosie and Sophie were able to track down who they believed to be the stalker by getting an address from a photographer employed at the Gazette. When they arrived at the address they encountered Leah and immediately confronted her about the harassment. Leah denied all knowledge but told them that her stepmother was probably the one to blame and promised she would have a word with her.
A number of days later, Rosie and Sophie spotted Leah lurking around Coronation Street, though Leah insisted she was just checking to see if Sally's harassment had stopped. Rosie returned to Leah's house and was surprised to see her with Sally's sister Gina. Leah told Rosie that Gina was her stepmother who had been suffering from bipolar disorder and was also the one responsible for Sally's online abuse. She defended Gina, saying that Sally had been giving her no support during her illness even though Gina looked after Sally when she had cancer. She also threatened to go to the press about Sally if Rosie reported Gina to the police.
Rosie and Sophie later went to find Gina at the house. Gina was excited to see them and was confused when the girls accused her of stalking Sally. Leah tried to remind Gina of the abuse, but Gina had no recollection, which Leah claimed was due to her condition. Gina later went to find Sally at Underworld where she worked to give her an apology, but before she had the chance to properly speak to her sister, Leah dragged her into her car and drove off.
Oblivious to what Leah had told her daughters, Sally tracked down Gina's address herself and went to see her with her husband Tim Metcalfe. Sally was appalled at the run-down state of Gina's house and invited her and Leah to move in with her. They initially declined so Sally smashed one of the windows to make the house unsafe, giving them no choice but to lodge with Sally. A few weeks later, Sally announced that she had found a flat for Leah and Gina, though Leah was uninterested and asked a friend if she could move to France with them.
When Gina confessed to Sally that she was her stalker, Sally relayed this information to Tim, who became suspicious when Sally mentioned not recognising Gina's voice in the phone call. Tim overheard Leah talking on the phone about escaping to France and also heard her making derogatory comments about Sally. He accused her of being the real stalker, and when he saw Sally's number stored as "Miss Piggy" on her phone, it confirmed his suspicions.
When Gina went missing Leah offered to help look for her, insisting that she did care about her. When Gina was found, Leah apologised to Sally, insisting she had made a mistake and needed help. Leah decided to leave, furious with Gina for not standing up for her, despite everything Leah had previously done to help her deal with her bipolar. Leah told Gina that Sally would let her down but Gina disagreed. Leah departed.
List of appearances[]
2017