Corrie women in the dock - Ena Sharples

This week in Coronation Street, Tracy Barlow is finally in court after she clobbered Charlie Stubbs around the head with an Ikea statue. Tracyluv is as evil as they come, but she isn't the first female resident of Coronation Street to face judge and jury. Ena Sharples was the Street's moral voice for many years, but got on the wrong side of as many policemen as Les Battersby or even Jackie Dobbs!

Ena's worst skirmish with the Weatherfield justice system was in 1966 when she and Minnie went shopping at Summit Supermarket. Ena had very little money after giving her savings to her daughter, Vera Lomax, and gave in to temptation and stole two tins of pink salmon from the store. The shop manager caught her and she was charged with theft. Ena stood before Weatherfield Magistrates where she pleaded not-guilty, but was fined 47 shillings and made an example of, with the Magistrate saying: "This is stealing, make no mistake. There has been confided in you the task of caring for a Mission, a place where the virtue of honesty is emphasized constantly. You have done more than commit a crime." Ena was also arrested in 1969 after she organised a sit-in protest at a local Pensioners' Centre which was to be closed down. [Elsie Tanner]