Rick Neelan was a loan shark who bought Joe McIntyre's debts of £5,000 in November 2009. Rick was unscrupulous in his methods, charging his debtors extra money on a whim and threatening physical violence if they didn't pay up.
Biography
2009-2010: Harassing Joe McIntyre
When he went to see Joe to demand the £5,000 on 9th November, Rick took Joe's van as payment, but warned him that that wouldn't be enough, even though the van was worth more than £5,000. To make sure Joe heeded his warning, Rick threatened to hurt Joe's daughter Tina if he didn't pay up. Joe managed to keep Rick at bay by convincing his fiancé Gail Platt to sell 8 Coronation Street to pay the debt which was now well above the original £5,000. Rick viewed the house, pretending to be a potential buyer to put extra pressure on Joe, but after getting tired of waiting for the house to sell he demanded immediate payment.
Joe paid Rick £4,000 - the agreed total debt - on 7th January 2010, the day before Joe was due to marry Gail. Rick then turned up at Joe and Gail's wedding reception to tell Joe that he had to pay weekly interest. After two weeks without payment, Rick confronted Joe with a heavy, but Joe was able to hide from them. Rick later turned up at No.8 and found out that the house was no longer on the market, as Gail, unaware of the extent of Joe's debt, had decided not to sell. Joe fobbed Rick off by promising the money in a week. After a week Rick returned only to find Joe had gone on holiday to the Lake District. Joe continued to be a no-show in the coming weeks, so Rick began threatening Gail and Tina, but they weren't intimidated by him. To ensure they took him seriously, Rick set fire to a newspaper he had put through the letterbox of No.12, where Tina and her boyfriend Jason Grimshaw lived.
It soon emerged that Joe had died in the Lakes during his trip with Gail. Rick was questioned by the police but although he was charged with other offences the police were satisfied that he hadn't been involved in Joe's death.
2012: Back in business and downfall
Rick returned in May 2012 when Terry Duckworth planned to open a lap-dancing club called Se7enth Hea7en. He owed £20,000 to Rick but Terry's son Tommy paid half of it thinking he had cleared the debt. He and girlfriend Tina were shocked to discover that Terry still owed £9,000. Terry and Tommy agreed to torch the club to claim on the insurance. When Tina found Terry in the Rovers, she went into Se7enth Hea7en to see Tommy about to switch on the gas heater. She forced him into making a decision - her or Terry. Tommy then left Tina in the club unable to lock up when Terry arrived to find his son gone. They argued and Terry was about to set the club alight but Tina tried to stop him. After being threatening by Terry, Tina was about to call the police but Terry accidentally pushed her over and she hit her head on the floor, knocking herself unconscious. Terry told Tommy it was Rick that had caused Tina's injuries, but Tommy soon found out that it was his dad. Tommy gave him an ultimatum - to choose between him and the money, Terry chose the money, leaving Rick to tell Tommy that the debts have passed on to him. However, Tommy told Tina that he had given the money to Rick and their debts were cleared. Rick gave Tommy jobs to do on the cars at the garage which involved packing drugs into them, late at night. Rick then wiped £250 off the debt and told Tommy that he had more jobs for him to do.
When Rick ordered Tommy to do a job smuggling drugs into Amsterdam, Tina had had enough and instead stole the drugs and contacted Rick to meet her at a point along Weatherfield Canal. Wanting his supplies back, Rick kidnapped Rita Sullivan on the day of her wedding to Dennis Tanner in order to use her to force Tina hand the drugs back, knowing of their close relationship. The pair had a face off with Rick threatening to throw the drugs into the water and, in return, Rick threatened to throw Rita over the edge. The police arrived and although Rick attempted to evade them, he was arrested. A few days later, Kirsty Soames told Tina, Rita and Dennis that Rick had been formally charged, denied bail and his associates were in the process of being rounded up. Fearing that he could be released in a matter of days, Kirsty allayed Tina's fears and stated that Rick would be looking at a minimum of eight years' imprisonment.
List of appearances
2009
2010
2012