Ryan Sykes first came into the lives of the residents of the Street in October 2000 when his elder sister, Linda Baldwin, attended the funeral of their sibling Dean who had been shot dead by police in the Freshco's siege. Ryan then caused trouble when he knowingly sold some dodgy CD players to Tyrone Dobbs and Jason Grimshaw but a piece of rough persuasion from Dennis Stringer resulted in most of their money being returned to them, although some was still owed.