Des Foster was a painter/decorator and Councillor who asked Alf Roberts to back him over fighting vandalism on the Red Rec in July 1983. While at the shop, Des flirted with Bet Lynch, who at the time was Alf's tenant in the flat. He and Bet started going out together, causing friction between Alf and Bet as Des was a married man and Alf was worried about a scandal. As far as Bet was concerned, Des had initiated it and he was the one with a marriage and a standing in the community that could suffer from it. When Alf had to cover for them when Des's wife Edith turned up at the shop, he told Bet to dump Des or leave the flat. Des offered to set Bet as his mistress up in a flat in Jubilee Gardens but Bet wanted more and tried to get him to leave his wife. But Des wanted to have his cake and ea