Ronnie commits the ‘ultimate betrayal’ in Coronation Street which will destroy Debbie

After being a tower of strength for his wife by supporting her through a heart-breaking battle with dementia, Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan) is about to go behind Debbie Webster’s (Sue Devaney) back in the worst possible way. Say it ain’t so, Coronation Street!

Ronnie would do anything for his Debbie.

When she was diagnosed with vascular dementia, he stuck by her side and married her in a tear-jerking ceremony in the countryside surrounded by their nearest and dearest. For better or worse… and Debbie’s scumbag son Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) is definitely the worst.

The couple’s relationship has been put through its paces by the Worst Webster at every turn.This included doing the dirty with his uncle Kevin Webster’s (Michael Le Vell) wife, not to mention doing a hit and run that put Tyrone Dobbs’ (Alan Halsall) in a wheelchair.

But the most devastating act Carl inflicted on the couple was drunkenly causing a multi-car pile-up that killed Billy Mayhew, then gaslighting poor Debbie into going to prison for the crime.

Separated from the comfort of Ronnie, her friends and her routine, Debbie grew more forgetful and confused as her dementia rapidly progressed.

To Ronnie’s frustration, Debbie refused to give up on Carl, in spite of all his efforts to cheat her out of her money and her beloved Chariot Square Hotel. This drove Ronnie to hatch a plan with Kevin to get rid of Carl forever by using one of his dodgy car-stealing contacts, Fiona, to frame him for the whole operation. Unfortunately, Fiona changed her mind and blabbed the whole thing to Carl.

However, Ronnie needn’t have bothered. Eventually, the constant scheming of the rotten fruit of her loins led Debbie to the sad conclusion that her boy would never change. With reluctance and a broken heart, she paid Carl two grand in an envelope to leave her life forever.

Unfortunately, Kev stole the money back for Debbie, which only pushed crazy Carl off the deep-end as he sabotaged one of Kev’s cars in the garage… right before Tyrone accidentally crushed him with it.

If anyone thinks that being almost squashed flat was enough to make Carl turn over a new leaf, clearly this is your first time on Coronation Street. He returns to his shady old ways this week after Kevin refuses to give him a reference, forcing Carl to accept Fiona’s offer for some slightly less reputable automotive work fixing up stolen motors.

This week, Ronnie, Kevin and Tyrone are horrified to realise that Carl’s up to his neck in crime when they discover a gun in the garage!

Cue a tense stand-off, which ends up with Carl owing Fiona big time… which ends up distressing Debbie big time when she finds out.

With Fiona refusing to back off Carl, Ronnie makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Debbie’s son… by breaking her heart.

When Ronnie meets up with Fiona, he explains that he’s no idea where the gun is but for the sake of Debbie’s state of mind, he’s willing to pay her off.

However, Fiona asserts that she doesn’t want his money, but hints that he can repay her another way. Uh-oh.

Whatever Fiona’s demands are, it seems Ronnie agreed when he reports back to Debbie and reveals that Fiona won’t be bothering them again. Relieved, Debbie heads for a lie down… while Ronnie tells Carl the truth.

What does Fiona want from Ronnie? His participation in a shady deal… or a far worse betrayal to Debbie?