Alex Warner Alex Warner is the nephew of Cathy Matthews and first visited her in September 2015 when she was staying with Roy Cropper in his Victoria Street flat . Cathy was determined to make him a cake to mark his visit and told Roy that it had to be a wedding cake , complete with figures on the top , as he had had a thing about such events since he was eight years old . From this , Roy gained the impression that he was still a child and when he collected the figurines from Cathy ' s house , he also collected a horse - racing game named that he had enjoyed playing himself when a boy . When he returned to Roy ' s Rolls , he was momentarily taken aback to find that Alex was twenty - eight years old and had Down ' s syndrome . He recovered his manners quickly and welcomed Alex , being thoroughly taken with the young man , as was everyone who met him . A skill of his was reading palms and he read Anna Windass but their session was interrupted when his mother rang Cathy to say that she and her son had had a row over his taking a girl to the pictures when he was already going out with another ! Alex gave the sincere excuse that he liked both of them and asked if could stay overnight to avoid his mother . Although Cathy was dubious , Roy happily allowed him the use of his sofa for the night . Together with Anna , they played and thoroughly enjoyed the Escalado game but were embarrassed when Alex described Roy as Cathy ' s boyfriend . They put him right and he took them to the Rovers where Alex read Michelle Connor ' s palm while Cathy confessed to Anna that she would like to be more than a good friend to Roy . The next day he enjoyed a good breakfast , cheekily asking that it be put on his tab . Cathy later took him to the station to get the train home . Alex refused the offer of the Escalado game as he would have nothing else to play next time he came . He left a message with Cathy for Roy , saying that he had enjoyed his visit . Roy reciprocated , as it had reminded him of the times that he and Hayley had looked after foster children . During the following month , his distraught mother Nessa informed Cathy and Roy that Alex had gone missing . With the couple offering their help to find him , Ken Barlow and Audrey Roberts also joined in the search . Having been away from home overnight , Alex was found safe and well in the Rovers , stating that his phone battery had died while he was staying at a friend ' s house . Alex turned up at Roy ' s Rolls once more in January 2016 . Having revealed that he ' d been in another disagreement with his mother and lost his job , Alex asked if he could hang out in the café for the day . Later in the month after yet more problems at home and still without employment , he was offered a temporary position at the café while Roy would be away in Hastings , looking after his mother Sylvia . Roy returned to Weatherfield in May , welcomed back warmly by Cathy and Anna but while talking with Cathy he got upset by all the noise Alex was making with his mates upstairs . Roy stormed up to the flat and was outraged to see spilled drink and pizza all over the carpet and forced them all out . At the end of the day Cathy and Alex packed up their belongings but just before they left , Roy returned say that he was sorry for his outburst and allowed them to stay in his flat . Later that month Alex witnessed Cathy being run over by a distraught Carla Connor and was hospitalised . The next month Alex drove Roy ' s car to take his new friend , Gemma Winter , to the cemetery to visit the grave of her best friend Callum Logan . While out Alex was caught driving over the limit and a speeding ticket was issued to Roy . He quickly realised that Alex was driving and upon his return , Alex confessed to Roy and Cathy . Roy intended to call the police to tell them who was behind the wheel , but Cathy persuaded him not to and eventually Alex turned himself in . Quotes . " Hey Roy ! I ' ve heard lots of things about you . " ( First line )