Alongside the investigative storylines, Coronation Street also instills a very different kind of fear: the fear of a sexual predator with a perfect face, kind words, and an impressive title – Joel Deering.

He’s not the typical villain emerging from a dark alley, but a well-dressed, soft-spoken lawyer who always appears at the right times with “strange coincidences.”

His targets are vulnerable young women at the bottom of society, like Sabrina Adetiba – recently arrested, disillusioned, and without anyone to support her.

Joel approaches her with help: an offer of legal advice, a reassuring smile, and phrases like, “You deserve to be treated fairly.”

He instills in Sabrina the feeling that he is the only one who believes in her, the only one who truly stands by her side in a world that wants to crush her. In return, he orchestrated her gradual dependence: from office appointments to private meetings outside, from under the guise of “exchanging documents” to harmless touches, flattering remarks about her appearance, vulnerability, and the “specialness” only he saw. Sabrina, in her loneliness, confused by the feeling of being cared for with love and security, gradually sank into the luxurious glass cage that Joel had built. But beneath that glass were bars she couldn’t see.

He began interfering in the smallest things: who she was with, where she went, whether she should talk to this person or that person. He used the excuse of “protecting her” to separate her from other relationships, so that every step she took had to go through him. If she hesitated, he used her legal records and past as weapons: “Without me, who do you think will believe you?”, “I’m the only one who can keep you out of jail.” Every seemingly anxious word turned out to contain a subtle threat.