Derek Wilton Derek Bernard Wilton was the on / off partner and later husband of Mavis Wilton from 1988 until his death in 1997 . Derek was often dominated by women ; he remained a bachelor until after his mother Amy ' s death in 1981 as he always bowed to her wishes . He first met Mavis Riley in 1976 but remained non - committal until 1984 when they agreed to marry - but on their wedding day , the indecisive couple jilted each other . Forever letting Mavis down , Derek was usually too proud to admit he was at fault but still went to her with his problems . His biggest mistake was marrying his boss ' s daughter Angela Hawthorne in 1985 , even though it was Mavis he really wanted . After divorcing Angela , Derek finally married Mavis in 1988 and in 1990 they moved into 4 Coronation Street . On the career front , Derek never had much luck ; he usually worked as a salesman but his jobs never tended to last long , and in desperation for employment he usually had to turn to people who had caused problems in his and Mavis ' s lives , including Angela and Mavis ' s ex - partner Victor Pendlebury . Eccentric and pompous , Derek was the perfect match for dithering Mavis , as they were both very much alike , although their old - fashioned mannerisms and tendency to over - dramaticize everything sometimes made them the butt of the neighbours ' jokes , especially their immediate neighbour Des Barnes . Derek died from a heart attack during a road rage incident on Mavis ' s birthday in 1997 . Biography . A wonderful image was painted of Derek by his mother : When he was younger he had the whole of the local tennis club at his feet - but only the females , she was quick to add ! However , all of them melted away into marriage until he didn ' t even have a partner for the mixed foursome ! On her first meeting with Mavis Riley in 1976 , Derek ' s future wife ( though it would take them around 20 years to finally tie the knot ! ) , Mrs Wilton described her as a " walking ice - cream sundae " . After an abortive house purchase , Derek left the scene and only re - appeared in April 1979 , working for Sandicrofts , who produced seasonal novelties for retailers . He persuaded Mavis ( who was temporarily working in the Corner Shop ) to buy a gross ( that ' s 144 ! ) of chocolate Easter Bunnies for Easter . With the Corner Shop and The Kabin completely overstocked , Derek won a canteen of cutlery in a sales competition . With Derek ' s typical insensitivity he told Mavis he was giving this to his mother . Later Rita Fairclough pricked his conscience and he gave it to Mavis - who cooked him a meal in gratitude , and somehow managed to find herself loosing the cutlery back to Derek ' s mother . The Wiltons became the harbingers of middle - class taste on the street . They had their nice little garden ( with gnomes ) , and later a conservatory . Derek had an obsessive personality and easily got hooked on different things , just as quickly leaving them again when he discovered how much work and effort was involved . Running machine , giant vegetables , jogging , pyramid selling are just a few examples . He had no sense of humour and was so easily wound up and made to look foolish without him being aware of it . Des Barnes was the Wiltons neighbour , and was always ready to make a joke at their expense , they were too easy to resist . This had led to a number of incidents where Derek was convinced that Des was playing a trick on them , when the event was real , e . g . when they wanted to get an allotment . Des said that he knew someone on the council who could help , and he did . But when Derek met the man and he turned out to be called Hedges , he thought that he was in league with Des and having him on . Derek ' s attempts at playful banter became very insulting to the real council man . However , he didn ' t hold it against them and they got their allotment . Norris played a prank on Derek by stealing his male gnome ( they were called Arthur and Guineviere ! ) and sending postcards to Derek from around the world , signed by Arthur . Derek was also sent ransom notes , and one night went to the Red Rec to keep an assignation with the kidnapper . At this point there was a flasher round the street and Derek was arrested under suspicion . However , his alibi was so weird the police had to believe it . The kidnappers identity was only discovered when Derek was staying with Norris on the night before his wedding , and found Arthur in the wardrobe . He ' d thought it was Des again . Once they had the allotment , Derek chatted to Billy Williams who had the neighbouring plot and grown giant vegetables for competition . Derek thought this was a great idea and decided to go in for turnips , leading to all sorts of jokes . His prize specimen was cut in half when the Mallets were digging the foundations for the conservatory . Derek had some problems getting a job , and took to pyramid selling of environmental gadgets like humidifiers . He was hopeless , and their friends ( or acquaintances ) stopped going near them so they wouldn ' t be subjected to the hard sell . At this point , he introduced Norris to the program and he did very well . After this , Derek swallowed his pride and went to his ex - wife , Angela Hawthorne , who ran a stationery business . She took him on and he spent many happy days dreaming about his company car . Imagine his dismay when he returned one night in a lime green Corsa with a huge orange paperclip on the roof . There were many incidents like this in the Wiltons life : they pictured a lovely cosy scenario and then it all came crashing down around them . I have to say though that they did a good job on their garden . Derek was completely smitten with Mavis and saw her as a cross between Marilyn Monroe and the Madonna . That ' s a heady combination for any man . He saw any man with her as a potential seducer , because after all , who wouldn ' t be tempted by Mavis ? Derek died of a heart attack on 7th April 1997 ( Mavis ' s birthday ) in a road rage incident whilst driving in his lime green Corsa . Quotes . " Oh , they told me I could get a cup of coffee here . " ( First line ) " Here hang on you , look what you ' ve done . " ( Final line , just before his heart attack )