Billy Mayhew has been left devastated after being scammed by newcomer Wayne in Coronation Street.
In recent weeks, Billy has been struggling with his grief over his husband Paul Foreman’s recent death as part of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) storyline.
The former vicar learned shortly after delivering the eulogy at Paul’s funeral that his conversation with Paul in his final moments actually took place after his husband had died.
Billy started drinking heavily and even made a romantic pass at former boyfriend Todd Grimshaw in a moment of pure anguish. He has since started attending drug and alcohol support groups.
Monday’s (November 4) episode saw Billy alarming his family when he brought a stranger, named Wayne, home from his latest meeting.
Summer was understandably frightened to find Wayne in the flat, but Billy explained that Wayne had known Paul years earlier.
Wayne had offered to help take down Paul’s railings in the bathroom, so Billy left the stranger in his flat while he ran out.
When Billy told Bernie about meeting Wayne, she immediately recognised her son-in-law had been scammed.
“You stay away from him. The only one he looks out for is himself,” Bernie warned. “He got our Paul into a lot of hot water. He’s a liar and a thief.”
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Billy raced back to the flat to find that Bernie was right — Wayne was a con artist. The thief had managed to steal Summer’s laptop just as she had an essay due as well as a jewelry box containing Paul’s ashes.
Earlier this month, Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank spoke about Billy’s growing dependence on alcohol as he grieves for Paul.
“Billy doesn’t seem to cope well with these situations you know, obviously he had a heroin addiction, he’s obviously got an addictive personality,” Brocklebank acknowledged.
“He seems to turn to alcohol for comfort but can’t really handle it.”
