Joyce Smedley, the mother of Judy Mallett, was always in perpetual debt. She worked as a cleaner at the Rovers, Sunliners Travel Agency and Alec Gilroy's flat, but in April 1996, she was offered extra hours as a barmaid at the Rovers. Joyce lived in Gable Street with her dog, Scamper. Her weakness was Turnbills Catalogue - from which she would order anything and everything, even if she didn't need it, let alone affording it. She turned to lottery scratchcards as a way of relieving her debt problems, but this only made things worse.