departed on 2 September 1991, she later returned for two separate stints in April 1992 and September 1995, making her final appearance on 4 October 1995. Steph and her husband Des Barnes (Philip Middlemiss) arrived in Coronation Street shortly after getting married, they moved into one of the newly built houses. As a wedding present, Steph's father and builder of the houses Maurice Jones (Alan Moore) sold the newly built 6 Coronation Street to the couple at cost price. The Barnes spent their honeymoon in Majorca after which they began settling into the Street. Steph worked at the perfume counter, and Des as a bookie's clerk. Steph and Des shared a devilish sense of humour; when Steph flirted with Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) for a laugh, making him scared of her, Des bet her that she couldn't shave off his moustache. Steph won the bet by throwing a housewarming party and luring Kevin upstairs and going at him with scissors. Architect Simon Beatty (Peter Gowen) commenced work on a warehouse next door to Steph's work. He would often come into the store to flirt with Steph, which she enjoyed. An affair began and Steph drifted away from Des. While on a date, Steph and Simon were seen kissing by her next-door neighbour Derek Wilton (Peter Baldwin). Steph wasn't ready for Des to know the truth and asked Derek to keep what he'd seen to himself. Although he and his wife Mavis (Thelma Barlow) didn't tell Des, they made such nuisances of themselves lecturing Steph on her infidelity that Des warned Derek to stop pestering his wife, leading Mavis to blow Steph's secret in Derek's defence. Steph made the decision to leave Des for Simon. Des made one last attempt to stop Steph from leaving him by slashing her suitcases, but Steph moved out regardless. Over time, Simon grew jealous and possessive and Steph left him for another man. In order to avoid a messy break-up, she told Simon that there was nobody else and the relationship had just run its course. To throw Simon off the scent, Steph turned up at Des's door, asking if she could stay in the spare room for a few nights. Staying with Des made sense as Simon knew that Steph would never reconcile with him so she could use it as a refuge until the dust settled. However, her arrival sent out the