May Schofield was the mother of tragic schoolgirl Susan Schofield, who was hit and killed by a bus outside Bessie Street School in 1964.
Wife of Jim and mother of three, May lived in fear of her husband who was abusive towards both her and Susan. May blamed Susan for her father's drunken rages as she would cause him to lose his temper with her disobedience. One time, when Susan ran away from home, May told her not to come back although the girl did return. As both May and Jim worked, Susan looked after her two younger brothers and made their tea before May got home.
In November 1962, Bessie Street's lollipop man Albert Tatlock showed up at the house with Susan, telling May that the girl had again tried to leave home, this time turning up at his door. May attempted to fob Albert off by saying that a bruise on Susan's face was caused by a fall, however Albert had been told about Jim's violence by Susan and threatened the Schofields with the authorities if the beatings continued. May managed to get Albert out of the house before Jim got home by asking him to leave it to her, and was relieved when Jim arrived too late to speak to him. Jim swallowed her tale that Albert had been returning Susan's bag which she'd left at school but Susan herself contradicted the story the next morning, forcing May to come clean about the true purpose of Albert's visit. In a rare show of defiance, May threatened to go to the police herself if Jim took his anger out on her.
Susan's fatal accident occurred in Rosamund Street while she was crossing the road to a temporary classroom in 1964. In summing up Susan's life, Len Fairclough commented in the Rovers Return that she'd had twelve years of utter misery, and that any tears her parents shed would be crocodile tears.