The Youth Custody Officer was assigned to deal with ten year-old Hope Stape after she had had a youth rehabilitation order imposed on her for setting fire to 2a Coronation Street in August 2021.
Her life had been torn apart when Tyrone Dobbs had begun an affair with "younger model" Alina Pop and moved out of 9 Coronation Street where he was the partner of Fiz and his own daughter Ruby Dobbs. When Alina fell pregnant, Hope was initially excited but then became jealous that she was being squeezed out of Tyrone's affections, especially when she overheard his delight at the news that the forthcoming baby was a boy. Using a stolen set of keys and some nail varnish remover, she began a blaze using a scented candle to destroy the baby's new cot, not knowing that Alina was asleep in the bedroom. She subsequently suffered a miscarriage.
As suspicions grew into certainty that Hope was the arsonist, Fiz and Tyrone initially tried to cover for the girl but eventually he came clean to the police who charged her with arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
At her hearing, the judge took into account the trauma of Hope's parents splitting up and was also encouraged by the familial connections the girl had locally and that her family were in court to support her that day. She was persuaded that the best place for Hope was at home, and she therefore imposed the order with no custodial sentence. She would be required to attend therapy sessions and anything else deemed necessary by the rehabilitation team. She reminded those present that Hope would need a lot of support and understanding, that this would be down to them as a family and reiterated how important it was that they all pulled together to help.
With this in mind, all were on edge when the officer made her first visit to No.9, cleaning the house thoroughly and putting on a show of tea and refreshments. Fiz assured the lady that they were committed to making life for the girl as normal as possible, and she and Tyrone agreed that they had worked through all of their issues now. Fiz tried to proffer a third tea cake on the officer, but she refused saying it was tantamount to gluttony, upon which Tyrone blurted out that they had passed their "best before" date anyway. Fiz hastily offered to show the lady out before anything further could be said.