Coronation Street's Stephen lies again after being caught out by Gail

Coronation Street spoilers follow from the Boxing Day episode.

Coronation Street killer Stephen Reid has spun a new web of lies after arousing suspicion from his half-sister Gail Rodwell.

As well as covering up the murder of Leo Thompkins, scheming Stephen has spent the past few months concealing the troubled state of his finances.

Corrie's Boxing Day episode saw Stephen's lies start to catch up with him after Gail realised that he'd secretly re-gifted a present from Elaine Jones. Elaine had bought Stephen a hip flask for Christmas, which he then tried to pass off as David Platt's birthday present.

With this strange turn of events coming after Stephen's cheap Christmas presents for his family, Gail started to realise that he was hiding something.

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A quick call to Stephen's estranged wife Gabrielle proved illuminating, as she told Gail all about Stephen stealing from her company and running up huge debts.

Gail confronted Stephen in front of Elaine, who jumped in and shared her theory that Stephen is being coercively controlled by Gabrielle.

Seeing this as his only way out, Stephen went along with Elaine's mistaken assumptions and told Gail that Gabrielle has been denying him access to his own money.

Stephen convinced Gail that he doesn't feel ready to report Gabrielle to the police and wants to handle the situation his way. Gail also agreed to keep their mum Audrey Roberts in the dark over what was supposedly going on.

elaine jones, stephen reid and gail rodwell in coronation street

ITV

Later, Stephen made a threatening phone call to Gabrielle, confirming that she'd only told Gail part of the story.

Gabrielle pointed out: "You're lucky I didn't tell Gail about you stealing from your own mother."

Stephen replied: "You have absolutely no idea what I am capable of. If any of my family call, you do not pick up, do you hear me?"

Back at The Rovers shortly afterwards, Stephen suffered another setback as Elaine shared her decision not to lend him any money to invest in Sarah Barlow's new business.

Elaine explained that she really likes Stephen, so wants a chance to get to know him without a financial matter standing in the way. Although Stephen pretended to be understanding, he was secretly devastated.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.