is dead. When the police arrive at Pauline's funeral with news of a murder inquiry, Pauline's son Martin (James Alexandrou) first believes Joe must be the suspect, and tries to strangle him, until Sonia owns up and announces it was her the police are investigating. Joe later packs his belongings and goes to live with Megan. He promises Martin he will return for Pauline's second funeral, but he later claims that his car broke down on the motorway, so he was unable to attend. On 25 January 2007, Joe unexpectedly returns to the Fowlers' house, much to the horror of Pauline's friend Dot Branning (June Brown), who is inside the house at the time. Joe reveals to Dot that he had gone back to the house on Christmas Day to try to patch things up with Pauline, but that she harshly told him that he [Joe] was leaving, not her, and continued to insult him and his ways. He told Pauline he felt like lashing out at times, and she dared him to "be a man" and hit her. Joe then describes how, in anger, he picked up a frying pan and hit Pauline hard on the head with it. He left the house after the incident, at which point Pauline was fine, and that was the last time he saw his wife, who later died due to a brain haemorrhage caused by the blow to the head Joe had given her. This causes Dot to realize that Joe is the one who killed Pauline, accident or no accident. She then attempts to phone the police when Joe refuses to own up to Pauline's death, but he snatches the phone out of her hand and throws it away. Joe proceeds to try and stop Dot from leaving, which prompts her to tell him that he will "go to hell" and that she cannot forgive him for what he did - "only God can do that". Just then, Dot's husband Jim (John Bardon) arrives at the Fowlers' house to find Dot being prevented from leaving by Joe. She quickly exposes Joe as Pauline's killer, just as Joe ends up taking Dot hostage, and Jim rushes over to save her. A struggle ensues and Jim manages to rescue Dot from Joe. In that moment, Joe falls back and ends up crashing out of a window - ultimately falling to his death when