Coronation Street airs cryptic flashbacks in Joel murder plot in early ITVX release

We've already seen Ronnie (Vinta Morgan) and Ed Bailey (Trevor Michael Georges) acting shifty, and as the ITV soap continued, DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) had to bribe DC Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) for information, as she had been taken off the case.

Ronnie tried to listen in, and after getting rid of him, Kit eventually told Lisa that Joel had been struck with a heavy weapon, most likely a crowbar.

Later, Lisa's protectiveness over daughter Betsy (Sydney Martin) led to a chat with Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley King) about Mason Radcliffe (Luca Toolan).

When Yasmeen mentioned the teen had a crowbar, Lisa passed this onto Kit, before warning Betsy to stay away from Mason.

Betsy soon realised that the police were looking at Mason as a person of interest, and confronted him as to why the police suspected him.

Mason was then caught disposing of the crowbar by Kit, and brought in for questioning over Joel's death. In the interview room, Mason explained that on the night Joel was killed, he spent the night alone at Speed Daal.

Asked whether he had gone after Joel to protect a scared Betsy, Mason insisted that Betsy had got him into trouble, so he wouldn't go out of his way to help her.

But at this point, a flashback showed Betsy arriving to see Mason at the closed restaurant, with him comforting the sobbing girl and promising that he wouldn't let Joel hurt her.

Mason was released without charge when the crowbar had only his DNA on it, but he told Betsy they needed to stay away from each other.

Meanwhile, at the Rovers, Ronnie quizzed niece Dee-Dee (Channique Sterling-Brown) when he overheard Lisa telling her about the crowbar.

Then a second flashback showed Ronnie picking up the very same object. Did Ronnie kill Joel, or might Mason have done the deed?

Read more:

• 6 Coronation Street spoilers next week: Bethany Platt left terrified by intruder
• 8 Coronation Street spoilers: Who killed Joel Deering as body is discovered?
• Who killed Joel Deering in Coronation Street? All the suspects
• Who stole Damon's money as robbery stash disappears in Coronation Street?
• Coronation Street's Lucy Fallon on "incredibly important" stoma storyline for Bethany

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