Shirley Preston was the wife of Maurice and mother of Robert Preston. In November 1996 she attended her son's wedding to Tracy Barlow. Robert ended up going missing after his stag night. The following morning Shirley, Maurice and the Barlows searched around to try and find him. Ken and Deirdre Barlow headed to the house of the best man, Paul Davies, and asked his mate Greg Bamfield if he had any idea where the two lads had got to. Greg told them that he had locked Robert inside a freight container while they were drunk. When they arrived at freight yard at Trafford Park they searched through all the containers but found out that the crate that he was supposedly inside may have already beeen on a ship in Liverpool, bound for Saudi Arabia. When they headed home to tell Tracy the news, they d