Coronation Street airs tragic unannounced exit for Jacob Hay

In debt of £50,000, Jacob promised to make it up to his dad before the dealers caught on, but it was too late - Damon (Ciarán Griffiths) told him to get out of Weatherfield for the sake of girlfriend Amy (Elle Mulvaney).

Realising his time was up, Jacob set about saying his goodbyes - but it wouldn't be easy.

He went to Nick to own up to his part in the crime and admitted what's really been going on.

Jacob then went to the flat to end things with Amy - and it was a truly heartbreaking scene.

Deciding it would be best if she didn't know the truth for her safety, Jacob completely shattered Amy's heart, changing her opinion of him in its entirety.

Devastated, Jacob tried one more time to salvage anything from this horrible situation and offered to work for his dad.

• Why has Jacob Hay left Coronation Street? Actor Jack James Ryan explains exit

With nothing left, he proposed he could sell drugs and earn more than the £50k owed.

But Damon twisted the knife once more and told Jacob he was weak, and a liability to him.

Delivering the final blow, Damon said if Jacob doesn't leave in the next 10 minutes, he would bury him.

Having lost everything, poor Jacob packed up and called a cab - never to be seen again.

Speaking to press including RadioTimes.com, Ryan opened up about leaving Coronation Street, explaining what losing Amy means to Jacob.

"She was his absolute world - she still is, and I think she always will be," Ryan said.

"I think Amy for him was so much more than just a relationship. I think she was really who turned his life around. She saw something in him that no one else saw.

"This choice to leave was catastrophic for Jacob and it goes against his natural instincts as a person. But when you love someone so much you have to let them go, and Jacob couldn't risk anything happening to her."

Speaking about why he, perhaps foolishly, decided to trust Damon, Ryan said: "I'm getting this a lot from the viewers. I think the simple answer is, it's Jacob. He's been neglected his whole life, and his mum was in and out of prison. His dad's been around and he was made to push drugs as a teenager from his uncle.

"He's never had that sort of care and family unit and that's what he's craved for the most his whole life. Damon preyed on that vulnerability and Jacob fell right into the track.

"I think the sad thing about it is that Jacob could have had that family unit with Amy, Steve and Tracy. I think over time they could have adopted him as a son-in-law."

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