Bob’s son Heath (Sebastian Dowling) died at the start of the year. Alongside Cathy (Gabrielle Dowling) and Angelica King (Rebecca Bakes), Heath hoped to attend a party in Hotten to see in 2024, but with adults refusing to take them, the trio resorted to breaking the law.
At this point, Cathy was adapting to living with an illness that causes her to have severe mood swings. As a result, her reckless behaviour saw Cathy steal Wendy Posner’s (Susan Cookson) car and drive Heath and Angelica out of the village.
On the way, because Heath was telling Cathy to drive faster, she ended up leaving the wheel and allowed Angelica to take over. The chaotic situation, along with Angelica being underage and inexperienced, caused them to crash.
When Bob and Wendy arrived at the scene, Heath was pulled from the wreckage, but Wendy quickly accepted the young lad had died.
In the aftermath, Bob and Cathy’s relationship was put under strain due to Bob refusing to believe that Cathy wasn’t driving the car when it crashed. Due to her history of not telling the truth, he spent weeks preparing to disown his daughter.
The real version of events was revealed on the day of Heath’s funeral due to Angelica’s guilt eating her up.
The teen was then sent to a secure children’s home in Bristol, and was only released some weeks ago.
In upcoming episodes, Bob is struggling. He is trying to organise Heath’s memorial concert but Wendy and Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop) are doing nothing but bickering.
When the anniversary of Heath’s death eventually comes around poor Bob is in tears.
The young lad had his whole life ahead of him, but lost it as a result of a tragic and devastating accident.
