Stu Carpenter was left stunned by the news of his compensation for wrongful imprisonment on Coronation Street as Alya Nazir reacted with horror. It wasn't the news that either of them had been expecting, for different reasons, as Dee-Dee Bailey told Stu the amount he will receive for serving 27 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit.
Last year the identity of the person who had killed waitress Charlie Walter was finally disclosed. Stu did the time for the murder of the young woman he had been having an affair with, and after being released from prison he ended up jobless and homeless.
He was helped to rebuild his life by his friends in Weatherfield including Kelly Neelan, Alya and her gran Yasmeen and he found employment as a chef at Speed Daal and a home at 6 Coronation Street.
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Alya and Yasmeen with solicitor Dee-Dee fought to clear his name and he was reunited with his daughter Bridget Woodrow and met his granddaughter Eliza for the first time, which was met with strong disapproval from his ex wife Lucy. Then there was a massive twist as the dark truth came tumbling out that Bridget had bludgeoned Charlie at a bus stop with a clay model she had made of her dog Albert.
Bridget revealed her mum had also been involved. "There was no pulse. She wasn't breathing. I was scared. So scared so I called mum," she recalled. Mother and daughter had taken Charlie's body from the bus stop and left her in a shallow grave in woodland.
In Wednesday night's episode (Aprl 19) Stu was thankfully sitting down as Dee-Dee told him she had pushed, and he was due to receive £200,000. "I've pushed and pushed," she said apologetically.
She explained that it meant he would get just £7,407 for every year he was locked up, £617 a month and £20 a day. And an upset Alya pointed out: "You would have earned more working in the corner shop." But Stu looked delighted and gasped that it was a "fortune" and told Dee-Dee "It's a king's ransom."
"Two hundred grand," he repeated as he marvelled at the news. As he beamed at Alya, she couldn't help smiling back at his innocent delight.
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