Mrs Bardsley was a marriage guidance councillor who arbitrated with Jim and Liz McDonald after their marriage hit the rocks. In February 1996, Jim and Liz had attended an army reunion where one of the other guests was Johnny Johnson, an old mate of Jim’s. However he found out that Johnny and Liz had had a fling some years before and, furious with her, hit her and dumped her by the roadside, driving off and leaving her.