hair on a cruise ship to attend his father's funeral. Following the events of Duggie's death and funeral, Richard managed to cover-up his involvement behind the incident for over a year. During that time, he sought to correct Duggie's mistakes on his development and went as far as to solely incriminate the deceased publican as being responsible for the situation he was in. This impact led to Richard killing his ex-wife Patricia (Annabelle Apsion) in May 2002 and Duggie's barmaid Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw) in January 2003, both in order to uphold his financial issues due to the effect his partnership with Duggie has caused. On 24 February 2003, over a year after Richard left Duggie for dead, his fiancé-turned-wife Gail would ultimately discover the truth behind her husband's homicidal nature. When Richard admits to killing Patricia and Maxine that night, Gail questioned his previous claims about Duggie's fate. In response, Richard confesses to leaving Duggie for dead and robbing all the money from his safe in order to put his business development forward – though he also states that Duggie is to blame for the predicament he was in, and that he deserved his fate. After Gail declared their marriage to be over, Richard left the house and became the most wanted man in the UK – once the truth about his crimes, including Duggie's demise, were exposed. Eventually in March 2003, Richard got his comeuppance when he planned to kill Gail and her children – abducting them and then driving them into the canal, only for his stepfamily to escape to safety whilst he himself drowned. Candice Stowe Candice Marie Islandos (also Stowe) was played by Nikki Sanderson. Candice first appeared in 1999 as Sarah-Louise Platt's (Tina O'Brien) best friend from school. She attempted to get Sarah to smoke. She and Sarah were both thirteen at the time. Candice was one of the first people Sarah told of her pregnancy. While many of Sarah's friends turned against Sarah, Candice stuck by her throughout the pregnancy and birth of her daughter Bethany Platt in 2000. Candice proved to be a good friend in times of crisis during Sarah's life, for example she and Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) were instrumental in Sarah being able to evade the clutches of her paedophile kidnapper Gary in July 2001. As they grew up Candice, Sarah and their friend Maria Sutherland (Samia Ghadie) began