Brewery Newton & Ridley held a licencees' reunion in November 2003 in Blackpool at which ex-Chairman Cecil Newton made the re-acquaintance of Bet Lynch for the first time in many years. He had always carried a torch for Bet but now, in his latter years, it became much more. His son, Philip Newton was horrified at what he saw as a gold-digger getting her claws into his rightful inheritance furious when his father proposed marrying Bet, openly telling his father that he was going to put a stop to his plans. To this end he employed a Private Detective to follow and photograph Bet in order that he could use any incriminating pictures to dissuade his father from his chosen course.
Unfortunately for Bet, she became embroiled in the affairs of friend Liz McDonald whose husband Jim was on the run from Holmes Gate Prison, desperate to see her as he suspected that she was having an affair with local pub landlord Laurie Dyson. He had altered the police to a possible hideout where Jim could be found - a caravan owned by Fred Elliott. In getting Jim away from this site, he and Bet had to momentarily pose as a kissing couple on the seafront which is when the detective snapped their passion in progress. Philip gleefully showed the photographs to a shaken Cecil who, in turn, confronted Bet with the "evidence". Luckily for her, Liz and Fred Elliott were able to confirm who the man in the pictures was and the wedding was back on again. Sadly, Cecil suffered a heart attack just prior to the ceremony and later died in hospital.
List of appearances
2003