Phillipa Woods was a colleague of Lynette Campion, who was Des Barnes's solicitor when he appeared in court over setting fire to his boat at Bridgewater Canal in 1991. Lynette was also Des's first girlfriend after Steph left him. The couple met through the case and slept together after Lynette brought Des's punishment down to a conditional discharge.
Phillipa had heard all about Des from Lynette, and like her friend she found his gesture of destroying the boat to mark the end of his marriage romantic. She was introduced to him when she played gooseberry at the couple's lunch date in a bar that November. Lynette was embarrassed by Des at first and apologised to Phillipa when he referred to the pair as "cracking birds", but Phillipa didn't mind the label as she fancied Des herself, preferring him to the blokes she usually went for who only talked about money and cars. Phillipa then flirted heavily with Des, with Lynette joining in, leading Des to think that he was being sent up. Phillipa continued the joke by telling Des that she was free that night, earning her a curt reply from Lynette before the ladies descended into giggles.