Coronation Street killer Stephen's latest murder revealed in flashback

When Rufus later offered Michael a job in London, Michael ranted at Stephen's treatment of him and quit his current role. But, upon arriving at the house where Rufus was staying for a meeting, there was no sign of him.

As the ITV soap continued, Michael confided in his uncle, Ronnie (Vinta Morgan), that he was now unemployed and had burned his bridges with both Stephen and Rufus, after leaving the absent Rufus a furious voicemail.

Ronnie advised Michael to speak to Stephen again, so Michael interrupted Stephen's breakfast date with Elaine Jones (Paula Wilcox) to plead for his job back. Stephen had been in the midst of looking at Nina Lucas's (Mollie Gallagher) designs in the café, and until Michael arrived he had been rude and condescending towards her.

However, in front of Michael, Stephen abruptly announced that he had given Nina his job, leaving Michael outraged. Ronnie then urged his nephew to track down Rufus, but when they arrived at the house, they found a shaken housekeeper (played by Enid Dunn) surrounded by police. She explained that she had found Rufus dead in the swimming pool.

Michael later revealed the news to Stephen, who appeared shocked, and police officer Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) spoke to both men. But after Ronnie lied to Stephen that Michael had met with Rufus and turned down his job - in order to coax Stephen into rehiring Michael - Stephen informed Craig that Michael may have been the last person to see Rufus alive.

Michael was then forced to admit to a confused Craig that he hadn't actually seen Rufus after all. Just when it seemed like Michael was stuck without work, though, Stephen found him and offered him the position of junior manager.

At the factory, Stephen poured Michael a drink and promised to teach him everything he knows about business. When Michael asked to hear how Stephen persuaded people to sign for deals, Stephen launched into a spiel about luring the client in and getting them right where he wants them - while the screen took us back in time to the scene of Rufus's final moments.

Yes, of course, it was Stephen who had turned up on Rufus's doorstep the night before, and he got the man to invite him in for a drink as they fell into an amiable chat. But as the drinks flowed and Rufus left the table on the poolside to get another bottle, Stephen added a huge amount of LSD to Rufus's glass. Rufus soon became affected by the drugs, making it easy for Stephen to push the staggering Rufus into the pool.

When Rufus pleaded for Stephen's help as he struggled in the water, Stephen reached down and forced the other man's head under the water until he was dead in sinister scenes.

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