that she did so on purpose, her other friends shun her. Distracted by the quarrel, Steph does not notice that she is being stalked by serial killer Toby Mills (Henry Luxemburg). He attacks her, hitting her in the head with a spanner and leaving her to die. Steph is comatose for a week, and is diagnosed with epilepsy when she regains consciousness. Upon learning that Toby is Lisa's brother-in-law, Steph resumes her bullying. Johnno eventually catches her physically attacking Lisa, and orders her to leave her alone. The two go on to attend university together, where Steph apologises for her cruelty and they are able to reconcile. In the aftermath of her epilepsy diagnosis, Steph is initially unable to deal with her condition. Her father supports her, but ends up abandoning his family following the revelation that he has a secret son. Steph's mother Frankie remarries, and she comes to see her new stepfather, Jack Osborne (Jimmy McKenna), as a father figure, despite remaining close to her father and becomes the only family member to visit him. Steph largely reforms following her epilepsy diagnosis, becoming more sensitive to the needs of others. She comes to terms with how dangerous her condition could be if uncontrolled, and in time her epileptic episodes become less frequent. Steph fails her college exams and is forced to retake them. Fuelled by jealousy of her sister's West End success, she attempts to embark on a celebrity career. She appears in the fictional television show Bid Crazy TV, and auditions for a girl band, X-Pose, which transpires to be a money-making scam. She then sells a kiss and tell story on celebrity Joe Jones, who she meets after a failed audition to become one of his backing singers. When Steph's notoriety peters out, her stepbrother and agent Darren arranges for her to have sex with a footballer. After their liaison, Steph discovers that he is actually just the team's mascot. Humiliated, she abandons her pursuit of fame. In a comedy storyline, Steph's great-aunt Reenie leaves her an inheritance, said to be a "small fortune", on the condition that Steph performs a charitable act. She fulfils the requirement by saving Leo Valentine (Brian Bovell) from choking, however discovers that Small Fortune is, in fact, a donkey. Steph sends it to live at a donkey sanctuary. Steph becomes a babysitter to Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins), and later begins