 After Nick falls off some scaffolding, due to Mark Fowler spiking his drink, he orders Ashley to set fire to Mark’s house, but Ashley cannot go through with it and leaves after Nick disowns him.Nick contacts Ashley a few months later and they reconcile.Their bond resumes until a fateful summer evening in June 2001 when Ashley steals Mark’s motorbike after an argument with him in The Queen Vic, unaware that Nick had cut the bike's brakes the previous night in hope of killing Mark.