his business is going downhill. His attempts to uphold his marriage to Gail are threatened when Patricia's best-friend, Charlotte Morris (Joanne Zorian), visits the street about the circumstances of her disappearance; however, Richard manages to convince her otherwise and Charlotte leaves Weatherfield for good. When he learns that Gail's mother Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) is worth £250,000, he hatches a plan to save his business from being on the verge of financial bankruptcy. Over the next few months, Richard manages to convince Audrey and her family that she has Alzheimer's disease, even getting the doctor to prescribe her medication for sufferers of the condition, and tries to kill her by setting her house on fire. She survives after being pulled out of the blaze by Richard's second business partner, Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), and later tries to warn Gail; however, already convinced that her mother is indeed senile, she refuses to believe her and the pair end up having a quarrel over Audrey's theory about Richard. Eventually, Gail cuts all ties with Audrey after she and her friend Archie Shuttleworth (Roy Hudd) - who became aware of Richard's agenda when the pair had a previous debate over Patricia's funeral - reported Richard to the police, though they were unsuccessful due to the lack of evidence. Richard becomes desperate for money and resolves to kill again. He decides to target Audrey's neighbour Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire), whose house he had bought. During a birthday party at The Rovers, where Gail and the others are helping their friend Doreen Heavey (Prunella Gee) celebrate her 50th Birthday, Richard leaves the pub. He then goes to the squat where Sarah's tearaway boyfriend Aiden Critchley (Dean Ashton) is staying and since he drugged him he is able to take and use Critchley's coat and shoes without him waking up. Disguised as Critchley, he enters the house owned by Doreen's daughter Maxine (Tracy Shaw) - where Emily is babysitting. Richard attacks Emily with a crowbar but he is interrupted when Maxine enters the house and confronts him. Richard then kills Maxine by beating her to death with the crowbar and stages a robbery to frame Aiden, who is subsequently charged with murder and attempted murder. Soon afterwards, Richard receives a phone call that a woman who had sold her home to Richard in a buy-back scheme had died a week prior. He is wracked with guilt,