Stephen Reid may be gone but the repercussions of his crimes are lingering in Weatherfield this week. During Wednesday night’s  (October 18), there was a nervous wait for Michael Bailey as he was heading back to Underworld following the previous week’s events.

Carla was infuriated when she discovered Stephen, who she’d already discovered had drugged her with LSD, had managed to take nearly £250,000 from the Underworld accounts after convincing Michael to give him his access code. But Stephen’s plan to escape the cobbles hit a stumbling block after Jenny Connor nicked his passport.

Desperate, Stephen then turned on his own family by attacking Sarah Barlow and threatening Jenny as he pleaded for his passport. The confrontation then spilled onto the street in front of the Rovers Return where Stephen’s horrified family watched on. With his passport back, Stephen looked set to spare Jenny thanks to his mother Audrey Roberts’ appearance in front of him.

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However, he ended up being run over by Peter Barlow, moments after he’d set Jenny free, and was soon confirmed dead and Peter has since been questioned by the police on suspicion of murder.

But this time it was Michael’s turn to face his fate. As Carla Barlow prioritised a trip to Spain to try and keep hold of a client, it was left to Sarah Barlow to sack Michael, despite the fact that Carla had neglected to tell Michael that she had deliberately frozen Stephen out of the accounts at the time

Devastated, Michael left the factory and was found by his father Ed who felt awful for him. But when Michael had to ask for his investment money back, Ed quietly panicked, having relapsed in his gambling addiction unbeknownst to his family.

But Corrie fans were too busy flocking to social media to have their say on Michael’s sacking and claimed it was ‘unfair’. @trishmorell said: “Harsh! Why sack Michael? Stephen was his boss.” @emmawainwright__ commented: “I’m confused why he got the sack, in the scheme of things.”

@josephroling wrote: “If no one else could see through Stephen, why was Michael supposed to have done? And… If Sarah knew Stephen was not to be trusted with PIN codes, she should have said. Michael definitely has a wrongful termination lawsuit. #TeamMichael.” @catherine_caulfield shared: “This is unfair dismissal, Stephen was his boss, Michael’s sister should represent him in court.” @Helz2011 added: “I don’t get why Michael has been sacked, they know Stephen conned him out of the number #corrie.”