Maria’s partner Gary Windass has grown close to former flame Sarah once again in recent months, as they teamed up to get rid of Bethany Platt’s abuser Nathan Curtis.

Monday’s (July 8) episode saw Maria discover that Gary and Sarah had been hiding a huge secret when they had an unexpected run-in at the police precinct.

Maria had gone down to the station after finding out that Mason Radcliffe is due to be released from prison following the bullying ordeal with her son Liam.

She had a few questions for the police about how she could protect Liam, before seeing Gary and Sarah were together in an interrogation room.

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Gary was forced to confess to Maria that he’d been providing his bank statements for police because he’d given £10,000 of the factory sale money to Sarah.

Gary confessed that he and Sarah agreed she could use the money to pay off Nathan to leave town.

Maria wanted answers from Sarah so she turned up on her rival’s doorstep unannounced. In an awkward confrontation, Maria was still unsure whether or not Sarah felt a connection with Gary.

“I know that you and Gary are always going to have history. If it was all about Bethany, like he said, then I get that,” Maria told Sarah.

“That was all it was,” Sarah insisted. “I’m so sorry, I was just desperate.”

Maria accused Sarah of using Gary’s “sympathy” for her benefit, then admitted Sarah’s explanation didn’t convince her.

“It was only about Bethany,” Sarah pleaded.

Maria asked her rival point blank if she would “back off” now that the situation with Nathan was sorted.

“I know we live on the same street and all that, but you don’t really need him to be part of your life. You don’t need him as a friend,” Maria declared.

As she turned to leave, Maria warned Sarah: “If I hear that you’ve done anything like this again, that you’ve used the fact that he still cares for Bethany to get him involved in something shady, [we’ll have a problem].”

“I shouldn’t have got him involved,” Sarah conceded.

Bethany turned up at that very moment, bringing an end to the awkward confrontation. Is Sarah ready to let Gary go?