‘Street con-man ‘to leave Duggie for dead’

Coronation Street swindler Richard Hillman will leave business partner Duggie for dead as he tries to pull off the perfect crime next month.

Smoothie Richard, played by Brian Capron, will be seen cruelly leaving him in a heap after a row, then swipe £70,000 (€114.7) which Duggie has stashed away.

Viewers will be left wondering whether the thief gets away with it after the hour-long special on February 4 when Richard returns to the scene to find the body has moved and unsure whether he was dead after all.

Richard, who is engaged to Gail Platt (Helen Worth), becomes suspicious his colleague is secretly stripping the fittings from a house they are renovating.

Worried that Duggie (John Bowe) is making a mint behind his back, he goes to the house to investigate and they end up in a blazing row.

A spokeswoman said: ‘‘It’s very dramatic, lit only by torchlight, and Richard tells Duggie where to go.

‘‘Duggie leans over a bannister and typically the wood they used isn’t up to much and it collapses under him, leaving him to fall two storeys and leaving Richard with a lifeless body at his feet.’’

Richard decides to capitalise on the situation by leaving him to die while he gets his hands on the thousands which he knows Duggie has held back from the tax man.

‘‘He thinks he has committed the perfect crime, stealing from a dead man, but when he returns he finds the body is not in the same spot.

‘‘Richard and the viewers are left guessing if he has got away with it or if Duggie is actually still alive.’’