with a crowbar after using it to unsuccessfully murder Norris' roommate Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) as part of his plan to extract her house as a result of his equity release scheme that Emily signed with his company; and framing Sarah's troublesome ex-boyfriend Aiden Critchley (Dean Ashton) for the crime of both Emily's attack and Maxine's murder in retribution for Aidan causing an earlier car crash that nearly killed Sarah and left her hospitalized for a while. Eventually, Richard confessed his crimes to Gail in a two-hander episode between them on 24 February 2003. He seemingly departed Weatherfield for good after Gail denounced their marriage and the extent of his illicit activities subsequently become public knowledge, but Richard returned weeks later with the intent on killing his stepfamily and himself. He abducted Gail and her children, along with Sarah's infant daughter Bethany, from their house and attempted to kill them all in their garage. However, after Audrey and Martin discovered his last-ditch familicide plan, Richard drove off with his captive stepfamily and ended up plunging their Ford Galaxy into a canal—but they survived while he drowned. Since then, Richard has been rated as one of the best soap villains of all time and in the programme itself—alongside the likes of Alan Bradley (Mark Eden) and Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre). Storylines Backstory Before arriving in Coronation Street, Richard Hillman became a financial advisor and ended up getting married on two different occasions. He and his first wife Marian tried for many years to have a baby without success. When Richard's mother falls ill, Marian decides that she doesn't want to look after an old aged pensioner so she leaves Richard. During their separation, Marian dies. Sometime later, Richard's mother has died and Richard married his second wife - Patricia (Annabelle Apsion). Like Marian beforehand, Patricia wants children and she and Richard are shocked to discover that he is sterile. Knowing that Richard and Marian had tried unsuccessfully to have a child, Patricia believes that Richard has deceived her about his fertility though Richard later tells his third wife Gail Platt (Helen Worth) that he had always believed that Marian was at fault and was stunned to discover that he was responsible. Whatever the reason, Patricia and Richard divorce. 2001–2003 Richard Hillman makes his first appearance in Weatherfield when he attends the funeral of a local resident, Alma Baldwin (Amanda Barrie), in