ITV Coronation Street Lauren Bolton’s killer finally revealed in graphic flashback

Coronation Street finally revealed Lauren Bolton’s killer on Thursday night in a harrowing flashback.

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. With Nathan now arrested, will Joel be caught and who else is in danger?

Taking to Twitter, now X, viewers were left screaming over the reveal. One person said: “OMG I’m SCREAMING!!! #Corrie”, a different account put: “WHAT AN EPISODE! SHOCKED! #Corrie” while another added: “Wow – did not expect it to be Joel!”