Coronation Street fans are sure they’ve spotted a vital connection between ITV soap villain Joel Deering and teenager Max Turner.

Last month, it was revealed that lawyer Joel was the one to attack the missing teen Lauren Bolton – whacking her repeatedly over the head with a chair leg. Though we still don’t know if Lauren is alive or dead, Joel has gotten away with it for now.

His actions were exposed in brutal flashback scenes when Hope Stape found Lauren’s missing necklace in his car – and it’s been suggested that new cop Kit could also be involved after planting evidence that convicted groomer Nathan Curtis.

But now fans think Max could be the one to end Joel’s reign of terror after Joel went after Max’s girlfriend Sabrina. On Monday night (June 24), fans saw Joel bump into the teen at the precinct before slipping alcohol into her coffee.

Joel told Sabrina she reminds him of an ex – and despite Sabrina being warned off by a pal who said Joel is a “creep”, fans are worried about what he might do next. It’s eerie that Joel seems to have a vendetta against Max, going after two of his former partners.

Taking to X to share their theories, one penned: “First Lauren goes missing, now Sabrina… Max will be the number one suspect!” Another agreed: “Sabrina is easily written out just like Lauren. Max won’t be too happy about it though! What is it with Joel and Max’s girlfriends?”

Someone else predicted Max will “freak out” when he discovers the truth – and could even bring an end to Joel’s life if pushed too far. One social media user said: “Joel is after Max’s girlfriend now. This’ll get spicy! Max will freak out!”

Another fan theorised: “My Corrie theory of the week is Joel knew Max when he was in young offenders, wants to get back at his racist ways so he’s targeting all his girlfriends.”

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However, other fans think Joel will go ahead and target Sabrina’s friend instead of the teen herself – branding her his “next victim”. Some people also think they’ve worked out the identity of the mystery girl, with one penning: “Just a thought, what if Sabrina’s mystery unnamed friend (the one who is blackmailing Joel) is Betsy – DS Swain’s daughter?”

Another echoed: “Sabrina’s mate looks a lot like DS Swain, is this her daughter? It’s gonna go down for Joel in #Corrie!” as someone else agreed: “As a guess, she’s DS Swain’s daughter as she is supposed to be appearing?”