Dean McGinley was a fellow pupil of Craig Tinker at Weatherfield High. In September 2013, Craig accused Dean and his friend Connor Hayton of bullying him, but this was a plan orchestrated by Karl Munro who needed Craig to make up an excuse as to why he was acting shiftily, to cover the fact that Craig thought he caused the fire at the Rovers Return Inn several months previously when it was Karl, the real arsonist, who needed to cover his tracks. Dean and Connor were wrongly suspended from school over the incident.