ITV Coronation Street all the clues you missed Joel Deering was Lauren Bolton’s killer

Coronation Street finally revealed Lauren Bolton’s killer on Thursday night in a harrowing flashback – with many clues dropped about the murderer’s identity over the past few weeks.

Only recently, Roy Cropper has found himself wrongly arrested, charged and the number one suspect for the supposed murder of missing teenager Lauren. Soap fans will recall that troubled youngster Lauren abruptly left the cobbles earlier this year and her friend Bobby has been left concerned after he found her flat unlocked with Lauren nowhere to be seen.

Viewers never saw Lauren leave and it seems she told no one close to her of her plan to leave Weatherfield aside from Roy. Bobby reported Lauren as missing to the police and Roy has found himself under suspicion due to his kind nature, especially after he was caught innocently cleaning Lauren’s flat, which some people thought proved he was guilty and internet sleuths have since made his life a misery with a barrage of online abuse.

On Thursday’s episode, DS Lisa Swain and newcomer Kit thought they had cracked the case as they arrested abuser Nathan Curtis, who previously made Bethany Platt’s life a living misery and was recently released from prison. As they interrogated Nathan in the prison cell with Joel Deering acting as his solicitor, a graphic flashback played as it looked like it was Nathan but later in the episode it was revealed in a shock twist that Joel was in fact Lauren’s killer.

As the episode ended, the cobbles’ residents celebrated Roy being freed from prison due to Nathan’s arrest and as Joel left the celebrations, he headed to his car, which youngster Hope Stape had been cleaning amid her fundraising efforts for drama club Little Big Shotz. In a chilling twist, Hope explained that she had found a necklace under his car seat while cleaning as it was revealed to be Lauren’s necklace.

This then prompted a graphic flashback, where it showed Joel attacking Lauren, where he left her lifeless and bloodied, before looking at himself in the mirror, where he was shaking and kept touching his face in shock. As Joel rushed out the flat, he grabbed Lauren’s necklace on the side. After the flashback, it showed a menacing Joel playing with the necklace on the cobbles before staring into the distance. Here we take a look at all the clues it was Joel all along…

Receipt clue

Soap fans will recall that earlier this year, Dee-Dee Bailey was left confused to find a jewellers receipt fall from Joel’s wallet as it was dated December and Joel had clearly spent a lot of money. Joel found Dee-Dee, Adam Barlow and Alya Nazir discussing the receipt, where he claimed he had bought himself some cufflinks.

With Roy having a flashback of Lauren wearing a necklace from her mystery boyfriend before her disappearance and Hope finding Lauren’s necklace in Joel’s car, it appears that Joel’s expensive jewellers receipt was in fact Lauren’s necklace and not some cufflinks.

Odd disappearance

Earlier this year, amid Lauren’s disappearance, eagle-eyed soap fans spotted that another character was “missing” too as they questioned whether they were behind Lauren’s murder. Taking to Twitter, now X, one person said: “Notice how Joel has disappeared and so has Lauren? #corrie”, a different account put: “Is there a possible link to Lauren’s disappearance with Joel?” while another wrote: “My theory is Joel killed Lauren on @itvcorrie because he was secretly seeing her #Corrie #WhoKilledLauren.”

Elsewhere, a different viewer put: “#corrie I’m starting to side with everyone who accused Joel of being Lauren’s secret boyfriend. 1. We haven’t seen him since she went missing. 2. The day Dee-Dee dumped him was the same day Lauren was covered in bruises. 3. Solicitor so knows how to cover up a crime scene. 4. He’s a Solicitor so has a lot of money- one of the few things we do know about the secret bf. 5. Dee-Dee is abstaining until marriage, which would explain his connection to Lauren. I also do not believe his story about that other lady being his wife. #corrie” while another added: “I thought Joel was Laurens secret man but he seems to have disappeared #Corrie…” With Joel now back and revealed as Lauren’s killer, was the disappearance linked to her murder?

Secret family

Earlier this year, Dee-Dee was devastated when she found out what her new lover had been hiding from her for months. Joel was forced to confess the truth after weeks of suspicious behaviour, with evidence suggesting he was playing away. But after meet-ups with a mystery woman named Emily, Joel finally told Dee-Dee the truth.

He dropped two major bombshells as he confirmed he was secretly married to Emily and also had a baby daughter. Joel claimed they split 18 months ago, and that his little girl was a year old. He told Dee-Dee things were not working out for him and his wife prior to their split, but when she fell pregnant they tried again.

Joel was then forced to reveal he’d cheated on Emily while she was pregnant with his child, resulting in her kicking him out. With Joel holding plenty of secrets, what else is he hiding and could the woman he’d cheated on Emily with in fact be Lauren?