Lauren Bolton made her return to Coronation Street this week – now fans reckon she has been working with a resident to try and take down attacker Joel Deering

Coronation Street fans are certain Lauren Bolton is in cahoots with a cobbles resident to take down nasty Joel Deering.

This week, saw the return of troubled youngster Lauren (Cait Fitton) – after months of being missing, and presumed dead. Fans will recall she vanished from the famous cobbles after losing her job at Roy’s Rolls.

However, it wasn’t until last month that viewers discovered that sleazy solicitor Joel Deering (Calum Lill) was behind the teen’s disappearance.

And during Monday’s episode (July 7) it was revealed that Lauren is actually alive – and has been in hiding. The youngster showed up at Roy Cropper’s (David Neilson) bedside at the hospital, following his heart attack earlier in the day.

And in Tuesday’s episode (July 8), Lauren attempted to make a swift exit from the hospital – however, she was grabbed by her attacker Joel, and pushed into a family room.

A series of flashbacks throughout the episode showed viewers the truth behind Lauren’s disappearance and her relationship with Joel.

The nasty solicitor wormed his way into Lauren’s life after helping her out with bills, eventually coercing her into a relationship.

Lauren managed to make a swift exit from Joel in seriously tense scenes at the end of the episode. However, fans are now certain that Lauren is actually working with Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) to take Joel down.

Fans will recall feisty Betsy rocked up to the cobbles as the daughter of DS Swain (Vicky Myers). However, in a surprising twist, she has been blackmailing Joel for money.

Now, viewers have ‘proof’ that Betsy and Lauren know each other – noting how when Betsy found out about Roy’s heart attack, she looked worried and shocked, despite not knowing him. Fans also claimed that Betsy could have been the one to tell Lauren about Roy – resulting in her visiting him.

On a Facebook fan page, one person said: “Could DS Swain’s daughter have been helping Lauren? She was there when Carla got the phone call about Roy being in hospital so could have told Lauren which is how she knew where he was.

“Also she warned Sabrina off Joel, so maybe she knew more about him than she was letting on. She is a friend of Sabrina’s so highly likely that she’s seen Lauren when she’s visited Sabrina as they live next door to each other & maybe seen Joel going to Lauren’s flat.”

Someone else added: “Kirsten Maclean I saw Betsy’s face when Carla got the phone call about Roy in hospital & she looked worried when she does not even know Roy.” A third penned: “Now that would be a really good story..coz Betsy did approach Joel….”