Coronation Street's Amy Barlow spirals amid shock arrest for criminal damage

After being raped by Aaron Sandford (James Craven) earlier this year, Amy didn't get justice - and Aaron moved away as a free man.

Amy has since busied herself by helping out at a charity designed to helped women in her situation, and neglected her university coursework to join an anti-spiking protest.

Alongside Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby), Cassie (Claire Sweeney) and Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman), Amy made placards which challenged the police and the public over allowing women to feel unsafe on the streets.

But when teen bully Mason (Luca Toolan) made vile remarks to the group, Amy lost control and attempted to hit Mason with her placard. Two police officers happened to be driving nearby, and Amy was stopped and spoken to.

While Summer anxiously tried to calm the situation and make out that Amy was apologetic for her actions, Evelyn and Cassie backed her up by explaining how Mason provoked her.

But when the officers let her off, Amy remained angry over the police's failure to act over predators.

She sprayed an insult onto the officers' patrol car, and was immediately arrested for criminal damage. At the station, DS Swain (Vicky Myers) took over questioning Amy, challenging her over her behaviour.

But Swain understood that the young woman was still suffering over her sexual assault, and in powerful scenes, expressed her own disappointment that she hadn't been able to secure Aaron's conviction.

When Amy blamed her for being part of the problem, Swain replied that she gave regular talks in schools to educate men on consent, and knew more needed to be done to prevent rape.

Ultimately, Swain decided to let Amy off the hook, but warned her against repeating such an offence. Amy seemed to take this on board, and ran into pal Aadi Alahan (Adam Hussain), catching up over dinner as he offered her his support.

But we later saw Amy heading into a nightclub, leaving us wondering what she might do next.

If you have been affected by the topics raised in Amy's story, you can find help and support by visiting The Schools Consent Project and Rape Crisis, and by calling Rape Crisis's 23/7 support line on 0808 500 2222.

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Coronation Street airs weeknights on ITV. Check out more of our Soaps coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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