Clive Shawcross Clive Shawcross was a " Weatherfield Gazette " reporter who visited Coronation Street covering four different stories over the course of 1973 . In the January , he called at the Rovers to investigate the case of Jacko Ford being cleared of robbing Benny Lewis ' s flat and Franny Slater and Sharon Duffy exposed as the true culprits . Annie Walker told Shawcross that she always believed in Jacko ' s innocence , while Jacko himself gave an interview , which to his disappointment the " Gazette " didn ' t pay him for . Two months later , he interviewed various residents on Albert Tatlock ' s near - fatal gassing while alone in his kitchen at 1 Coronation Street . Minnie Caldwell , who found Albert , told him how she had entered the house after noticing that his milk was still outside and that Elsie Howard called an ambulance . Meanwhile , Hilda Ogden all - too - eagerly reported that Jerry Booth had recently installed an electric cooker at No . 1 and gave her theory that he hadn ' t properly sealed the gas off . The other residents tried to protect Jerry but he himself , plagued with guilt , confirmed to Shawcross that he ' d fitted the cooker . As the cause of the gassing hadn ' t yet been confirmed , Shawcross ' s article focused on the residents ' rescue efforts , incorporating information on Albert ' s soldier days ( provided by Ken Barlow ) to build a profile of the victim . However , it also carried a mud - slinging quote from Hilda , sullying Jerry ' s reputation as well as that of Fairclough and Langton . The next story he covered in Coronation Street was Bet Lynch ' s mugging in July . He first interviewed Stan and Hilda Ogden , who had found Bet lying in the ginnel . Over dramatising events and talking up their involvement , Hilda requested that Shawcross specifically mention in his article that she was eating scampi from Jackson ' s Chip Shop when they found Bet , as she considered it a classier meal than the standard fish and chips . Shawcross also covered the broader topic of how muggers should be dealt with and safety on the streets , interviewing various residents to collate their views on the topic . After taking down similarly reactionary quotes from Albert , Ena Sharples and Lucille Hewitt , he was referred to Ken Barlow to satisfy his desire for an opposing viewpoint . However , due to a mix - up with the photographs in the published article , Ken ' s liberal opinion was attributed to Albert ( causing the old man to threaten to sue ) , while Lucille was described as a 73 - year - old widow . Even Bet was unhappy with the article ; she thought the photographer wanted shooting for the unflattering photo he ' d taken of her and was horrified that Shawcross had used her full name of Teresa Elizabeth Lynch . Shawcross last visited the Street in November , in the wake of schoolboy Mark Hillkirk ' s accident at the communal bonfire which Alan Howard had helped organise . He and photographer Larry Clark called into the Rovers to " sound out local opinion " and found Alan there . The residents stood by Alan as Shawcross asked them if they thought that fireworks ought to be banned . Their next port of call was the Kabin where they got Councillor Len Fairclough to be spokesman for a new anti - fireworks campaign that the paper was to run , taking a picture of him with Rita Littlewood , not realising that she had sold Mark a box a fireworks a week earlier .