Family In Focus....The Murrays page 2

Continued..........

Adele was determined not to give up on her holiday, and later resorted to forging Marty's signature on a consent form. In the meantime she had found herself a new boyfriend Russell, the first since her disastrous relationship with Leo. Russell was more interested in pursuing their relationship and she was, and Adele soon began to lose interest. Marty and Diane were not too impressed with Russell either, particularly when they returned home one-day to find him drunk in their house.

Anthony faced further trouble at school, when despite the teacher’s attempts to keep Imelda and Paige away from him they still continued to bully Anthony. They were finally caught out when they covered a security camera before cornering him in the boys' toilet, soaking him in water and ripping off his school uniform. After viewing the closed circuit TV tape the Head Mistress decided to suspend Imelda from the school.

Anthony hoped things would be different when Imelda returned to school, particularly when she apologised for all the trouble she had caused. However it soon became obvious that Imelda had no intention of leaving him alone when she followed him home from school. Anthony tried to get away by running into the woods, but Imelda followed and caught up with him near a pond. This time when Imelda threatened him, Anthony fought back and pushed Imelda into the pond, where she fell and hit her head on a rock. Imelda was dazed and unable to prevent Anthony holding her under the water. Too late he realised she had drowned, and ran home in a panic.

When Imelda failed to return home the police were called and a search began. It was reported that Imelda had been seen in London, so Anthony thought he was in the clear, but the police investigation proved to this lead to be false. Later the police held a reconstruction of Imelda’s last known movements at the school in which Anthony was asked to take part. He had no choice but to agree, but found the experience very traumatic.

Later Anthony was horrified when the police turned up at his house to question him further, but after accepting he had played no part in Imelda's disappearance, turned their attention to Marty instead. They discovered he had no alibi for the time when she was last seen. When their investigations revealed that a girl had gone missing in similar circumstances at his last school, Marty became their prime suspect. Anthony tried to draw attention away from Marty by writing a letter to the police apparently from Imelda, claiming she was alive and well and living in London.

However the police weren't convinced, and suspecting Marty was involved carried out a thorough search of the house. It was not long before they found evidence of Imelda's letter on the computer, which confirmed their suspicions and Marty was arrested. It was only when they started digging up the garden that Anthony confessed he had sent a letter to Imelda. As they no longer had any evidence against him, the police had no choice but to release Marty without charge.

Throughout the investigation Marty had expected support from Diane, but instead she threw him out of the house when he told her that his first wife had battered him and broken Steve's arm when he was a toddler. Diane was incensed by the fact Marty had stayed with Jan, believing he should have left her and taken their children with him. The end of the police investigation wasn't the end of Marty's ordeal, as a short while after his release he was abducted by Imelda's brothers and badly beaten.

Meanwhile Adele had been away on holiday, apparently to Cornwall, but when she returned Adele revealed that she had in fact been abroad. Marty and Diane were also shocked when they discovered Steve had been seeing a married woman. When her husband discovered the affair, instead of fighting Steve he decided to set up a website for him. Steve was intrigued by his apparent generosity, but when he looked at his new site he was shocked to see it featured at film of him with Georgia in the bedroom.
Steve it was highly embarrassed as the news of his exploits spread around the close, and it was not long before all his friends had seen the website.

After the failed IVF treatment, and the police investigation into Marty's past it seemed their marriage was in danger of ending in divorce. Brigid was eager to prevent this happening and arranged a holiday for them, so they could spend some time together. At first Marty was reluctant to go away but eventually agreed that it could help save his marriage.

Adele was delighted by their decision to go on holiday, as it gave her the opportunity to hold a party in the absence. Steve agreed to Adele holding a party at the house providing she cleaned up any mess afterwards.
Although she promised to behave, Steve was shocked when he returned to find Adele running topless outside the house. It was Steve's turn to be embarrassed when he later saw Adele and her friends looking at his website on the computer. The next day the house was a mess, but Steve insisted Adele clean it all up before Marty and Diane returned.

There was more disruption in the Murray house, when Marty's first wife Jan turn up unannounced wanting to see her children. Christie tried to warn Steve that she was looking for him, but she arrived on the doorstep before he had a chance to contact him. Steve refused to talk at first, but later agreed to listen to what she had to say. Jan claimed Marty had prevented her keeping in contact, and had stopped them receiving her letters. Marty was furious when he found out about her visit and it tried to prevent her from seeing Anthony and Adele.

Despite his attempts she visited the house and saw them both, although they were not too pleased to see her. Diane was also horrified to see Jan apparently making herself at home with Marty and the rest of the family, and believing that Marty was pleased to have Jan back in his life, Diane walked out.

All this was soon forgotten when a dramatic event took place on the close. An armed gang of drug dealers were chased on to the close, and took over some of their houses including the Murray house.

As news of the siege spread, Diane was frantic with worry and regretted not listening to Anthony when he pleaded for her to return home. Meanwhile in the Murray house as Steve grappled with one of the gunmen, a shot was fired and Steve dropped to the floor unconscious. Believing him to be dead, one of the gang members Scott, pushed his apparent lifeless body out of the front door and on to the path outside. Although badly injured with a leg wound, Steve was still alive and was later taken to hospital.

Anthony was horrified by the way the gang had reacted when they discovered Marty's hate-mail. Although Jan did her best to comfort him he was inconsolable, blaming himself for all that had happened to his father. In the end Anthony decided to confess to Jan that it was he who had killed Imelda.

The siege ended when the gang tried to escape, but all but one ( Terry ) were captured. He took Adele hostage and ran off into the woods, chased by Tim O'leary. Tim managed to free Adele, while Terry was distracted by a Police helicopter hovering overhead. Determined to evade capture, Terry shot at the helicopter, causing it to crash near the petrol station on Brookside Parade.

The ordeal for was far from over for the Murray family, when they faced questioning by the police, and it seemed that Diane had disappeared. Later their worst fears were confirmed when the police informed them that Diane had been killed when the helicopter crashed. Jan didn't help matters either when she told Marty that Anthony had revealed a terrible secret to her.
Marty was horrified by what Jan had told him about Anthony's confession, and found it hard to believe that he was capable of killing Imelda. He wanted to hear it from Anthony for himself, and after questioning him Anthony eventually confirmed what Jan had told him. Marty told Anthony it wasn't his fault, and that nobody else would ever know.

Marty wanted to be absolutely sure that what he had been told was the truth, and so decided to go to the woods himself, to locate the pond where Imelda was killed. When he put his hand in the water he was sickened by what he found, and ran away in a state of shock.
Marty decided to try and protect Anthony, and so didn't tell him about what he had found at the pond.

However someone had seen Marty at the pond and reported it to the police, and when they investigated Imelda's body was discovered. As the Murray family gathered for Diane's funeral, the police arrived and arrested Marty for the murder of Imelda Clough, having apparently discovered some evidence linking him to her murder. This left Marty with a terrible choice, he either told them who really killed Imelda or took the blame himself, and risked being convicted of a crime he didn't commit. Following Marty's arrest the media took a new interest in the Murray family and arrived on the close seeking an interview. Meanwhile Anthony was troubled by recent events and visited Diane's grave, unaware he was being missed at home.

Marty was being held at a remand centre and was unaware that Anthony had run away, so while Steve and Jan were looking forward to visiting him, they were undecided as to whether to tell Marty about his disappearance.
Anthony desperately wanted to help his dad, and was racked with guilt over Imelda's death and Marty being wrongly accused of her murder. Finally as he sat beside a river, tormented by these thoughts, he saw a policewoman and decided to confess. After listening to what he had to say, the police believed his version of events which resulted in Marty being released without charge and Anthony arrested.

Although Marty was relieved to home for Christmas he was even more worried about what would happen to Anthony. His concern was shared by Jan who offered Marty her support, and as Christmas got underway they find themselves drawn together and ended up sharing a kiss.

When Anthony faced his first day in court and was greeted by an angry crowd on his arrival.
The prosecution alleged that Anthony knew that Imelda would follow him into the woods, and so deliberately lured her to a place where he could kill her.
The defence lawyer started by questioning the investigating police officer, and pointed out that at no time during his police interview did Anthony confess to killing Imelda. As the case progressed Anthony's lawyer brought to light how much Anthony suffered due to being bullied by Imeda.

When Anthony gave his evidence, he recalled how Imelda bullied him and wouldn't leave him alone. On the day she died Imelda chased him to the woods where she demanded he remove his trousers. When Anthony refused she hit him and held him tightly around his neck.
When Anthony retaliated they ended up in the pond, where Imelda fell backwards and then stopped moving. Anthony explained how he panicked and ran away.

The prosecution questioned Anthony's motives for running to the woods, claiming that he lured her there, so he could kill her. Despite the prosecutions claim that Anthony should be found guilty of murder, in his summing up the defence put a good case that Anthony acted in self defence, and that her death was an accident.

Anthony and the rest of his family faced a harrowing time while waiting for the Jury to decide, but they were all relieved when they delivered their verdict, not guilty of murder and not guilty of manslaughter.
Once Anthony was back home, Jan tried to encourage him to get up and start enjoying life now that he was free to do what he wanted.
Jan suggested to Marty, that maybe it would be a good idea for Anthony to go and live with her for a while in Salford, somewhere he could make a fresh start.

Marty attended a meeting with the school governors, where he hoped to hear when he could start back at work. He was furious when instead of giving him his old job at Brookside Comprehensive, they had arranged for a new position at a South Liverpool school. Outraged by their decision he told them exactly what he thought of their offer.

Anthony wanted to get away from the house for a while, and left without telling anyone where he was going. While Marty, Steve and Adele, fretted over his whereabouts Anthony first went back to his school before ending up at the pond where Imelda died. He was shocked when he saw all the floral tributes to Imelda, but while he stood by the pond Imelda's mother arrived. She ran over to him and pushed him into the pond, and almost drowned him before coming to her senses.
They ended up having a heart to heart conversation about Imelda, Anthony explained exactly what had happened when Imelda attacked him at the pond. After listening to what he had to say Imelda's mother told Anthony, she understood Imelda's death wasn't really his fault, but she could never forgive him for leaving her body there so long.

When Anthony returned home, his family were horrified by the state his clothes were in, but were relieved when Anthony told them, he no longer lived in fear and wanted to return to school. He later surprised Marty with a change of image, by shaving his head. Later Adele felt put out when Marty took Jan along to Anthony's new school instead of her. Resenting Jan's intrusion into the family, Adele made plans with Laura to find a flat of their own. When the school meeting was over, Marty suggested to Jan that she could move in with them to keep the family together, but Jan said that Adele would never accept her living in the same house.
While Marty was keen for Jan to move in with him and the rest of the family, Adele was dead set against the idea and decided to move out. She had hoped that Marty would change his mind about Jan staying, but was shocked when instead he told her to go instead.

Adele soon made herself at home with Tim at Jimmy's house, where she had persuaded Tim to let her stay. Tim wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but after they had a few drinks he changed his mind, particularly when Adele made it obvious she fancied him. Adele planned a romantic evening by cooking him a meal and then watching a video, but before long Tim made his move and Adele soon forgot about her plans as they became very passionate on the kitchen table.

With the passion over Adele was disappointed by Tim's attitude, as he seemed very cool towards her, and wasn't interested in having a meal or watching a video. When Adele decided to take a shower, she infuriated Tim by wearing Emily's dressing gown. During a heated row Tim shook her violently and told her to go and change. Adele was confused and asked why he was behaving that way after they had just made love, but Tim replied is was just sex, and it was then obvious to Adele that he had just used her. While she was packing her clothes, Adele discovered Tim's stash of drugs. Tim realised she has taken some with her after she had gone.

The next morning at the Murray house, Tim called round to see Adele, and tried to apologise, but she left him in no doubt that she didn't forgive that easily. However there was good news for Marty and Jan, as Adele wasn't at all bothered when she saw Jan emerging from Marty's room that morning.

Marty and Jan were both obviously very happy that they were together again, so when Marty asked Jan if she would marry him again, he was delighted when she agreed.

On the eve of their wedding at Bar Brookie Marty and Christy were having a few drinks, but Marty was puzzled by Christy's attitude. He didn't seem very pleased for Marty at all, and kept trying to put him off marrying Jan, by pointing out all the disadvantages of marriage. As the evening progressed the topic of conversation turned to Christy and the women in his life.

Marty soon became very irritated by Christy's negative attitude towards his marriage, and insisted that Christy tell him why he was so against him marrying Jan. He eventually revealed that he once slept with her while she was still married to Marty . Outraged Marty punched Christy, knocking him to the ground, before storming out of the bar. Meanwhile at the Murray house Jan was discussing that very subject with her friend Moira, and told her she hoped that Marty would never find out. She explained to Moira, that she only slept with Christy the once after Marty had let her down badly.

The next morning Christy and Leanne arrived at the Murray house, but he was unable to answer Jan's questions about Marty's whereabouts. Marty eventually returned, and announced there may not be a wedding after all. Everyone was stunned by this and wondered what could have happened, to make Marty have doubts about getting married again.
Jan joined Marty in the garden, where he said that he knew all about her sleeping with Christy. She responded by telling him it wasn't Christy that was to blame, as she seduced him. Jan explained that she only did it because Marty had not come home one night after she had specifically asked him to. It had been the night of his birthday, and Jan had prepared a special meal to celebrate. She and Christy had become drunk while waiting for Marty and so when he didn't come home, Jan slept with Christy as an act of revenge.

After listening to what she has to say about Christy, and how her life had been since they split up, Marty decided to marry her after all. Christy stepped down as best man, so Marty asked Tony instead, who was delighted to accept, although a little worried about making a speech. Tony was particularly happy when Marty gave him the ring that he had when he married Diane, and also when Brigid decides to come to the wedding.

After the wedding at the reception, Christy gave a speech on behalf of Anthony where he said how pleased he was that Marty has found happiness with Jan. Brigid also gave an emotional speech, which she ends by proposing a toast to absent friends. It was a an emotional time for everyone, and Leanne took advantage of the situation, by tricking Christie into asking her to marry him. Of course Leanne accepted immediately, leaving Christie more than a little bewildered.

Tony seemed to be getting on well at his new school and even found himself a new friend called Eleanor. He was worried about having a girlfriend, after the trouble he had with Imelda, and asked Jan whether or not he should keep secrets from from her. When he asked whether to tell Eleanor all about Imelda, she advised him that he should only tell someone who he knew really well, and could trust.

Later when Eleanor called round to see Tony again, they decided to for a walk to the park where they could talk in private. Tony had misinterpreted Jan's advice and believed it would be ok to tell Eleanor about how he had been involved in Imelda's death. After making her promise not to tell anyone, Tony told her his guilty secret, and although she was shocked, Eleanor promised that she would not tell anyone else.

The next morning Tony was still worried about Eleanor telling someone, but felt reassured when he met her at school and she insisted his secret was safe. However later that morning, Eleanors best friend realised that she was keeping something from her about Tony, and before long Eleanor let slip about him and Imelda.

Before long nearly everyone in the school knew about Tony, and both he and Eleanor became the focus of attention. Tony was horrified when he realised that his secret was now common knowledge amongst his school mates, and knew that Eleanor must have betrayed his trust.
Despite her betrayal Tony still liked Eleanor, and intervened when he saw some other girls picking on her. Eleanor hoped they could still go out together, but despite his feelings for her, Tony couldn't forgive Eleanor and insisted they split up.

Marty and Jan were also having problems with their relationship, after Adele found a photo album belonging to Jan. It contained compromising pictures of Jan with other men who she met after her marriage broke up with Marty. When he saw Laura and Adele looking through the album Marty was mystified as to why they were so amused. He took it from them, and was horrified to see pictures of Jan with so many different men.
After confronting Jan about the pictures, he and Jan had a blazing row, as she tried to defend her actions by saying she had every right to enjoy herself after they had split up. Marty was further incensed when Jan insisted on keeping the album, which had been given to her by Moira just before she remarried Marty.

The next morning Jan left the Murray house, and ended up spending the night with Mike Dixon in a B & B after his taxi broke down. Although nothing happened between them, when she returned home, Jan thought it best not to tell Marty about her time spent with Mike.
On the morning of Christy's wedding, Adele, Marty and Jan were all preparing for the happy event. Jan and Marty were amused by the fact that Leanne had been arrested on her hen night after mistaking a real policeman for a male stripper.

Later at the registry office, Christy became very agitated when Leanne failed to arrive, and sent Lance off to find out what the problem was. Meanwhile Adele arrived with some good news about her exam results, she was very excited and told Marty and Jan that she got an A and two B's.
When Lance returned he had some bad news for Christy, Leanne had run off with the policeman who she had met on her hen night. Christy was devastated, and at first took his anger out on Lance, before going to the pub to drown his sorrows.

Marty had to go to work at his new job as a security guard, but wasn't too happy at the thought of leaving Christy, who had returned from the pub, alone with Jan overnight. The next morning Marty arrived home to find Christy still drinking, and Jan sat beside him on the sofa in her nightie. He questioned Jan as to why she let him continue drinking, but she replied that there was little she could do to stop him.
Marty then tried to persuade Christy to either try and get Leanne back, or forget her, get on with his life and move back to his flat. When Christy decided to go out Marty warned him not to return if he got drunk again.

When he eventually returned to the close, he was very drunk and had another go at Lance, pleading with him to help him get back with Leanne. Lance refused to help though, but did assist him back to the Murray house, where he tried to make him rest on the sofa. Before Lance left, Christy resorted to telling a horrific lie in a desperate attempt to gain Leanne's sympathy. Lance was shocked when Christy revealed that he was dying from leukemia.
It was not long before all the Murray family knew about Christy's supposed terrible illness, and Bridgid even made a collection for him

They were all very sympathetic towards Christy, and Marty even considered staying in Liverpool to look after him, instead of moving away. Unable to take all this pity, Christy confessed to Marty that he had made up a lie about having leukemia, so Leanne might return to him.
Christy was very distraught after recent events, and although Marty wasn't too hard on him for lying about his illness, Christy told him he need to go out and spend some time alone.

A while later Marty receives a text message from Christy, saying he intended to end his life. Marty was horrified, and set off to find him. He constantly phoned Christy to try and get him to talk, and eventually Christy returned his call. Marty found Christy sat in his van, and discovered he was about to take an overdose.
After a long chat, Marty was able to convince Christy that his life was worth living, and told him that he could stay with them for a few weeks, until he was over Leanne.

Meanwhile Brigid gave Adele £6000, as her share of Diane's life insurance. At first Adele wanted to take a year off and go to work in Greece, but after talking to Christy she decided to go to Leeds University after all.

After the Farnhams moved out, everyone thought they had sold their house to Cinerco, who were keen to buy houses on the close. At first they were relieved to discover they had sold the house to someone else, Jack Michaelson, but as time went by the residents were to discover he was a very unpleasant character.
One morning when Jack Michaelson drove up in his car accompanied by his daughter Suzie, Tony watched them arrive and seemed particularly interested in Suzie. She was a young girl about his age, who smiled when she saw him watching her from his window.

When Tony later saw Suzie standing outside her house alone, he walked over and introduced himself. He discovered that she only stayed with her father occasionally, and didn't have any friends in the area. When she left Tony to go indoors, he suggested that maybe they could meet up later.

Suzie was to prove a bad influence on Tony, as they were later discovered by Jimmy smoking dope in the woods. They were quite oblivious to Jimmy who came across them on his way to see what was going on at the building site. Although he told them that their parents would be told about their activities, both Tony and Suzie were too spaced out to care.
Adele arrived back from University with Marty, and received a warm welcome from Jan, who was pleased to see her daughter. Jimmy also welcomed Adele back to the close, but had some disturbing news for Marty when he revealed that their new neighbour Jack Michaelson, had been in prison on drug offences. After listening to what he had to say, Marty warned Tony not to let Suzie persuade him to try taking drugs.

Meanwhile after Jack discovered cannabis in Suzies room, she admitted to smoking with Tony. He called on the Murray's in a furious mood, barged his way in and threatened Tony with violence, blaming him for encouraging Suzie to try drugs. Jan tried to protect him by telling Jack it was his own fault for being a drug dealer, and that Suzie probably got the cannabis from him. Jack didn't agree though, and hit Jan across her face before warning her not to go to the police.

It was the day of Ron and Bev's wedding, but despite Jan telling Marty to forget about Michaelson, he was determined not to let him get away with hitting his wife. Marty, Steve and Christy decided to deal out some rough justice, so after making sure Adele, Jan and Tony have gone on ahead to the wedding, Christy lured Jack out of his house by telling him someone has been in his back garden. When Jack went to investigate, he was set upon by the three Murray men, who gave him a vicious beating.

The Murray's were confident that Jack Michaelson wouldn't be causing any more trouble, but when Christy returned to the close to change his clothes, Jack attacked him with a pickaxe handle. Ron tried to intervene but was struck on the arm, and when Bev and Josh try to help, they were pushed to the ground. Ron and Bev watched helplessly as Jack continued to batter Christy before returning to his house.
When Marty and Steve arrived after being summoned by phone, they were shocked to see that Christy was so badly beaten and immediately called an ambulance. Later when they saw Jack apparently leaving with the police, they believed he had been arrested, but their hopes were dashed when he told them that he called the police himself, after being attacked by someone in a Santa Clause costume.

After visiting Christy in hospital, Marty was agitated and distraught as he explained to Jan that Christy was seriously ill and might need an operation. Jan responded that they should move away from the close, Cinerco and Jack Michaelson, but Marty didn't see why he should be forced to leave his home.

When Marty received a phone call from the hospital, it was about Tony who had been admitted on a suspected cocaine overdose, having been found collapsed in a park with Suzie. This was the last straw for Marty, as it made him realise that he should move away from the close after all.

The Murrays looked forward to a new start, and a few weeks later were on their way with their furniture loaded in Christy's van.