Mr Fearns was the father of Neil Fearns and the paternal grandfather of Bethany Platt. When learning that Neil had slept with Sarah Platt and that she was pregnant, he turned up at Roy's Rolls where Sarah's mother Gail worked to get answers. She confirmed Neil was the father, and Mr Fearns offered to pay child support fees but Gail turned him down, saying that her family would cope and to allow Neil to have his childhood. Mr Fearns left his phone number with Gail in case she changed her mind and he left.
When Neil died in September 2003, Sarah attended the funeral and was told by Norma Radcliffe that Mr Fearns had left wife Brenda a couple of years before, running off to Ireland with a "younger model", although no one had knew of his whereabouts since then. In January 2004, Brenda told Emily Bishop that her husband had married his "trollop" in church.