Lou Breslin was a social worker who fostered young child Elsie with Imran Habeeb and Toyah Battersby in October 2021. The timing was unfortunate. Imran had just confessed to Toyah that he had slept with another woman on the night that he lost the important case of defending their previous foster daughter, Kelly Neelan, on a charge of murdering Seb Franklin. Toyah had fled their flat trying to get her head around the revelation and Lou noticed her absence when she brought Elsie round. Imran had to admit that they had had a disagreement which might be serious but at that moment Toyah returned, making light of the incident after having discussed the matter with her ex, Peter Barlow, who warned her against throwing away everything that she had. Toyah put a show of togetherness and warmly welcomed Elsie with a toy elephant.
Just under a month later, Lou took charge of Kelly after she was freed on appeal as fresh evidence proved that Corey Brent was the true culprit for the murder. She visited Imran and Toyah to pass on a request from Kelly to say that she wanted to move back in with them but there was the bureaucratic hurdle to overcome to change their approval status to be more than one fostered child at a time. However, Elsie's complicated background meant that she was only allowed to be fostered with people where she was the sole child and that was an issue to be sorted out in a review of the case.
Lou brought Kelly back to Victoria Street a few hours later where the girl approached Seb's girlfriend, Nina Lucas, to apologise for her provoking actions in the attack that led to his death. Nina was in no mood to forgive and, in front of Lou, accused her of just expressing regrets in order that she could continue with her own life and that was never going to happen. Lou was hopeful that she could move back in with Imran and Toyah but Kelly felt guilty that Elsie might have to move out and that moving back into an area where so many people hated her was a bad idea. She therefore asked Lou to call off her plans and move her into supported accommodation instead.
The following February, Lou called back to Toyah and Imran to ask the surprised and delighted couple how they felt about formally adopting Elsie. Taken aback by the request, she told the couple that she was sure they needed a chat between themselves to reach a decision and left them to decide. They said yes, but Toyah laid down a stipulation that Imran, who had confessed to a one-night stand, marry her.
Six weeks later, matters had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Imran had failed to confess to Toyah that the woman he had slept with was Abi Webster who Toyah herself had been trying to help after the murder of her son Seb Franklin the previous May. Worse, she had fallen pregnant by him and had given premature birth to a son, Alfie. The revelation that Imran was the father was given to Toyah by Kevin Webster who had just discovered the truth himself. Immediately afterwards, Toyah and Imran had a meeting with Lou to discuss Elsie's adoption and she had to enter the office trying her best to compose herself. She found it hard to restrain herself while Imran smugly cracked jokes and put on a false front to Lou and when he smirked that they were too perfect to be parents, Toyah burst out with an accusation of lying and revealed all that she knew. As she grew hysterical, saying she couldn't risk Imran hurting Elsie too, Lou called a halt to the proceedings and suggested the two use the meeting room to sort out their differences.
A few days later, Lou called on Toyah at her request where she apologised for her outburst and reported that Imran was moving out of the flat and asked if it was possible for her to adopt Elsie on her own. Lou refused, saying that with everything so up in the air at the moment, it wouldn't be in Elsie's best interests and worse, she had to be rehoused with another foster family. A week later, Lou collected Elsie assuring Toyah that the child had come on well and that was due to her care.
List of appearances[]
2021
2022