Corrie fans appalled as character behind Joseph's disappearance is revealed

Heartbreaking Coronation Street scenes saw Joseph Brown go missing after being bullied at school.

Fans of the ITV soap were sad to see 10-year-old Joseph in turmoil over being picked on by his peers.

His dad Chesney was frantic after finding that Joseph had disappeared when he went to talk to him in the back yard, thinking that he was hiding away in a den.

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After a fruitless search, Chesney returned home and revealed that Joseph had run away while his partner Gemma called the police.

Viewers were appalled when the cameras then panned to his 11-year-old cousin Hope Stape helping to hide him away in the loft at mum Fiz's house.

Hope is hiding him (ITV)

She was seen shining a torch at her runaway relative and nonchalantly asking which flavour of crisps he would like.

Corrie fans can't believe Hope, the daughter of killer John Stape, could be in trouble again after last year she got away with setting fire to her stepfather Tyrone Dobbs and his pregnant girlfriend Alina Pop's flat.

@Sias_Creations said on Twitter: "Hope really is a devil child."

@ChantalMascoe tweeted: "Hope is just like her dad."

@bvdsteel wrote: "Time for Hope to be locked up and throw away the key."

And @Jamal06122771 said: "This sick plan has got to be Hope's idea. She's so messed up.

"Didn't she learn anything the first time?"

The Coronation Street 'demon child' started the fire deliberately in a fit of jealousy over Tyrone's relationship with Alina and the news that they were expecting a baby boy.

Alina later miscarried the child after being rushed to hospital and returned alone to be with her family in Romania.

It was warned that Hope faced eight to 12 years in custody, but it was decided that she needed therapy and support from her loved ones.

Hope previously started a fire at the Underworld factory in 2019 and shocked viewers by hiding a lighter in her doll's head.

The problem child, played by Isabella Flanagan, also tried to hurt Joseph by trying to convince him he could fly, bit her stepsister Ruby and put her gran Evelyn's dog Cerberus on a tram to Rochdale.