The Musgroves

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The Musgroves arrival on Brookside Close in November 1998 came as a surprise for Alec O’Brien who in fact was Niamh Musgroves father. A few days earlier Alec had rented a room in Sinbad's house hoping for a bit of peace and quite, this didn’t last long once his daughters family arrived.

Niamh and her husband Joey came looking for a place to stay after there own house was flooded by burst pipes, and seeing as they seemed to have nowhere else to go Sinbad agreed they could stay for a few days.

The rest of the family soon followed, daughter Kelly and sons Matt, Luke and Ryan. At first they only expected their stay in Brookside Close to be a short one while they waited for the insurance money to come through but these hopes were shattered when Joey announced he had forgotten to renew their house contents insurance. When Sinbad heard the news he decided to let the Musgroves rent his house until they sorted themselves out while he and Tinhead moved in with Mick.

The reason Joey had forgotten to renew the insurance was that he had been a heavy drinker at the time and it had slipped his mind. Niamh was very annoyed with Joey about his lapse of memory, so when he was offered a drink by his neighbour Jimmy he accepted it to calm his nerves.

Joey worked as both a Taxi driver and a Milkman, so when he went out in his taxi a short while after accepting the drink he was over the limit. Unfortunately for Joey he was stopped by the police and breathalised while with his mate from work Benny.

Joey regarded Benny as a good friend, and was pleased when Benny brought round money collected from other taxi drivers to help the Musgroves after they were flooded out of their home. Joey was happy enough to loan some of this money to Benny when he said he was a bit short, but when Benny later asked for more money he was less than pleased, particularly when Benny made it clear that he would tell both Niamh and the Taxi company about Joey’s impending court case if he didn’t pay up.

Luke realising that Joey had money worries offered to pay for the house to be repaired and offered his support when Joey went to court for his drink driving charge. Joey was found guilty and banned from driving, so when Benny continued to blackmail him this was the last straw for Joey and he once again turned to drink to drown his sorrows. In his drunken state Joey reasoned that he would be better off burning his house down and claiming on the building insurance, unfortunately once he set the place alight he fell asleep. Luke who was worried about Joey had gone looking for him arrived at the house just in time to rescue Joey fom the flames.

Niamh visited Joey in hospital where Joey confessed that he was being blackmailed by Benny over his drink driving offence. Benny soon received a visit from Niamh who told him she knew all about Joey’s conviction and that he should stay away from her family. When Joey came out of hospital he realised that it would be some time before Niamh could forgive him for all the problems he had caused the family.

Just when Niamh and Joey thought things could only get better their son Luke was accused of raping Nikki Shadwick , a neighbours daughter who he had met at a party. As a result of Luke’s arrest the other residents of Brookside Close wanted Sinbad to give them notice to quit. Although under pressure from his neighbours Sinbad decided to let the Musgroves stay until after Luke's court case.

Ryan seemed particularly upset about Luke being accused of rape and tried unsuccessfully to intimidate Nikki into changing her evidence. Kelly who so far had stayed out of trouble caused Joey and Niamh cause for concern when she was brought home from a party drunk after having her drink spiked by Tinhead O'Leary.

Meanwhile Niamh was having problems at an electrical wholesalers where she had worked for 20 years. Niamh’s employers were re-organising the office and had created a new job for her, the only problem was this new position required computer skills. A computer course was arranged and Niamh was expected to attend, it was at this point that she had to confess that she could neither read or write properly.

Niamh’s employers were astonished that she had managed to keep her learning disability from them, and although they agreed she could continue working for them, she was demoted to the shop floor. Undeterred Niamh enrolled on a course to help her with her reading difficulties and Kelly also offered to help her with her homework from the course.

Joey at last had some good news when he found work at the petrol station on Brookside Parade.

After Luke was sentenced to prison he knew he would be in for a difficult time as other prisoners always selected sex offenders for extra punishment. Each time Luke had visits from his family they could see how unhappy he was. During one visit when Joey visited alone, Luke explained that he feared for his safety. Joey tried his best to reassure him but left feeling very worried about what could happen to Luke. His worst fears were realised, for when a Luke returned to his cell were two other prisoners waiting for him. Luke received a severe beating and as a result was taken to hospital for treatment.

When Niamh and Joey saw Luke in hospital they were devastated by what had happened to their son. As Luke began to recover from is injuries he decided to escape from a hospital as soon as he had the chance. It was not long before Luke saw his chance to escape and took it. When Joey and Naomi heard about Luke's escape from the hospital they believed he would try to return home, but when he did not arrive they thought he had fled the country to Ireland. However one evening after dark Naomi heard a noise in the back garden, she went out to investigate and met Luke. He had tried to escape to Ireland but when he arrived at the docks there were many police out looking for him, so he decided the only place to go this back to Brookside close. The police soon came looking for Luke but Joey managed to conceal him in a water tank in the loft.

While he was at the Musgrove house, Rose arrived from Ireland as she had also been concerned for Lukes welfare. Rose had looked after Luke for most of his life something that caused a great deal of friction between her and Niamh.

During one of their arguments Joey confessed that he had arranged for Rose to have an abortion many years earlier when she was a teenager. Soon after Rose discovering she could no longer have children Joey had convinced Niamh that they should allow Rose her to bring up Luke as her own, as at the time Joey and Niamh could' t afford to look after Luke themselves.

After hearing Joey's revelation both Niamh and Luke believed Joey had given baby Luke to Rose to ease his guilty conscience.

Niamh and Joey persuaded Luke to give himself up to the police a few days later after convincing him it would be in his best interests to go to court, where they believed he would be found not guilty.

Meanwhile Matt and his mate Bosko had dreamt up a scheme for making some easy money. They collected some stones from outside Greg's bungalow and costumes from Brookside Comp. and set themselves up as the disciples of Shad. With the help of Jerome, Leo and Tinhead they set off for Stonehenge hoping to sell their stones and Tee shirts as souvenirs for the druids of Shad.

While at a camp site they were tricked by two German girls who stole all their souvenirs leaving them penniless

When Luke's case came to trial, the Musgroves were convinced that Luke would be set free, but although he was found not guilty of rape, he was sent to jail for six weeks for absconding while on remand. When he did eventually return to the close he was shunned by many of the neighbours which Luke found hard to take.

Meanwhile Ryan had become involved with Katie Rogers and although Katie was very happy with their relationship, it was jeopardised when Ryan made contact with Abby a former girlfriend. Although Ryan had only known Abby for a short while he discovered she had become pregnant by him and given birth to a baby daughter Lia.

At first Katie was shocked when Ryan told her about Abby and his daughter but decided to continue their relationship when Ryan explained he was only interested in his daughters welfare.

Luke continued to have problems living back on the close so with help from Ryan he went away to Ireland for a few weeks, hoping that things would settle down by the time he returned.

Matt and Bosko were up to their old tricks again when they came up with an idea of making some easy money. Calling themselves the Bug Busters they would call at people's houses offering to check electrical equipment for the millennium bug, to which of course they charged a fee. This scam worked well at first until they tried to their luck at Bar Brookie. Here they were met by Katie and Megan who soon realised what they were up to and it tricked them into thinking they had broken the computer. Matt ended up giving Megan money to pay for the supposed repairs.

Katie meanwhile continued her relationship with Ryan, even though he made regular visits to see his old girlfriend on the pretence of wanting to see his daughter. Ryan assured Katie that he had no interest in Abby and she believed him. When Luke returned to the close, Ryan confessed to him that he was still sleeping with his ex girlfriend. Luke's tried to convince Ryan to stop cheating on Katie, but when he wouldn't listen Luke decided to tell Katie himself. Luke found it very difficult to tell Katie about Ryan and Abby but eventually Katie realised that the Luke had something to say her and made him tell her what Ryan was up to. When Ryan returned from visiting the Abbey, Katie confronted him about her and he had no choice but to admit his deceit.

Luke had previously been going out with Katie before he was accused of raping Nikki Shadwick, so after Katie had finished with Ryan he asked her if she would go out with him again. Although reluctant at first Katie later agreed to continue their relationship where they had left off.

Meanwhile Niamh had completed the a computer course and succeeded in getting a good job as a result. Luke also had some good news when he was offered a job at the petrol station where Jackie Corkhill was now the manager. Joey though took advantage of Jackie's good nature and spent most of his time at the garage reading a newspaper instead of working. When Jackie discovered what he was to up to she gave him the sack, and it was only after Joey pleaded for a second chance that Jackie gave him his job back.

When Joey first lost his job he tried to keep it from Niamh but she found out when she next saw Jackie at the garage. Fed up with the deceit she turned to Max Farnham for comfort and almost had an affair with him, and was only prevented from doing so by Max from really wanted to get back but Susannah.

Luke hoped that now he had been found not guilty of raping Nikki Shadwick, she would get on with her life and to leave him alone. Nicky though had other ideas, she still believed that Luke was guilty. One night she followed Luke and Katie to a nightclub where she tried to drug his a drink and make him confess. When this failed she ran on to the roof of the club, followed by Luke was feared she might hurt herself. Nicky climbed on to a wall at the edge of the roof and threatened to jump a less Luke's confessed to raping her.

At first the Luke denied rape and said that Nicky had consented, but later Nikki made him realise that as he had drugged her, she had no control over what happened and what he had done was in fact rape. After Luke's confession Nikki went back inside the club but returned a short while later, just in time to stop Luke from jumping off the roof. Nikki pulled Luke back from the edge, telling him he should face his family and friends and tell and the truth. Nicky said that she would no longer bother him now that he had confessed.

Luke tried to deceive Katie at first about why he had confessed to raping Nicky, but later told the truth to both Katie and the rest of his family. After Luke's confession Joey decided that Luke should return to Ireland without telling Niamh. Ryan took Luke to catch the ferry, but when Niamh discovered the truth about Luke she made him a return to the close.

Realising that they could no longer stay in Brookside close and wanting to keep the family together, Niamh decided they should all return to Ireland under cover of darkness without telling their neighbours. So one night Joey and Luke loaded up a van with their possessions then Naomi, Joey, Kelly and Luke left the close for good. Ryan though returned to Scotland to live with Abbey, while Matt went to Chester and Alec went to live with other members of his family.