reinstates her job and sobers up. Eric makes friends with and later starts dating Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop), which makes him happy. While having dinner with Brenda, Amy, and other guests, Val suddenly returns and is surprised not to be welcomed with open arms, but Eric asks his guests to leave before he, Amy and Val have a massive argument about her abandoning them. Eric is forced to choose between Brenda and Val and after advice from David and Amy, Eric chooses Brenda. Eventually, Brenda and Eric end their relationship and he resumes his relationships with Val. In 2014, Eric is shocked when Val reveals that she had a fling while in Portugal. Her short-term partner comes looking for her as he is HIV positive, and may have given Val the virus. When Eric is ill, Val panics and thinks she has passed the virus onto him, but he only has mild flu. Eric recovers but is furious to see Val leaving her lover's car and ends their marriage. While they're on a break from one another, Eric has sex with Val's sister, Diane. They both regret it, but Diane is horrified to learn that Val may be HIV positive, and takes medication to fight the virus. Val finally tells Eric about her potential case of HIV and they both get tested. Eric is negative, but Val is HIV positive. This devastates the couple. While Val is watching films with Diane, she inadvertently lets slip about her and Eric's one-night stand, which leads to Val throwing them out and her breaking down. The next day, Eric tries to apologise but she throws a bottle of whisky at him, leading to him cutting his head. Val then tells everyone in the Woolpack about Eric and Diane's one night stand. Eric discovers that Val took part in Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw) and Carly Hope's (Gemma Atkinson) plan to commit life insurance fraud, to help Carly through her financial problems. Eric is tired of the arguing, caused by Val and her sister, Diane, who also discovered about Val's crime. During the wedding of Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) and Pete Barton (Anthony Quinlan) in August 2015, Eric locks Val and Diane in the house of mirrors and wanders off to drink in a pub with Doug Potts (Duncan Preston) and Rodney Blackstock (Patrick Mower). Unbeknownst to him, during the helicopter crash, Val was killed