Mrs. Leach was an old lady who lived at Makepiece Avenue with her son Norman. Late one night she was calling her cat Timmy in when Alf Roberts with Bet Lynch backed into her driveway when attempting a three-point turn. Not seeing the car, Mrs Leach backed into it and put on a show of being hurt. Alf gave her his name and address and drove off, leaving Norman to wonder who he was. When he discovered that Alf was a councillor and Mayor of Weatherfield-elect, he began blackmailing Alf and forced £200 out of him, until Bet guessed that Norman had previous form and made him return the money, on pain of being reported to the police.