Les Battersby - Brown Les Battersby - Brown ( né Battersby ) was a resident of Coronation Street for nearly a decade . Initially an angry and violent man , he mellowed over time , but even at his best could always be counted on to represent the lower end of the class scale in Weatherfield . Biography . 1997 - 2003 : Early years . The Battersbys arrived when No 5 was bought by the Council , and a problem family was given the space . Les had at some time spent six months in Strangeways Jail for breaking and entering . He arrived with wife Janice , daughter Leanne ( from a previous relationship ) and step - daughter Toyah . Les immediately clashed with neighbours such as Curly Watts and Des Barnes . He enjoyed wandering the interconnected loft spaces to look around the homes of other residents . This scared Percy Sugden so much that he moved away . Les ' s first big mistake was on 22nd December 1997 . He got a turkey - a live one - though . After calling it Theresa , Les said he ' d slit the turkey ' s throat . But Toyah and her vegetarian boyfriend Spider Nugent decided to liberate the turkey . When Les swore he ' d find it , he took stepdaughter Toyah in his car - but he didn ' t notice the turkey walk right into the path of his car . After mowing down Theresa , Les commented later on , " This is champion turkey , this ! " , with Leanne saying , " I can ' t eat this , look , it ' s even got tyre marks on it ! " Long lost son . In 1998 Les ' s son Greg Kelly turned up on his doorstep . Greg was born from an affair between Les and wealthy Moira Kelly , and Janice feared Les would want to start up again with Moira . She was right , but Moira resisted Les ' s brand of charm and asked him to leave her home . He did , but he was arrested for drunk driving and banned from being behind the wheel for eighteen months . Janice threw him out of the house and forced him to live in a camper van until he eventually won her round again . Greg , meanwhile , was run out of town after using Sally Webster for her money and then beating her . Overdose . Les heard that cash was being offered for cobbles , but when he dug one up , he dropped it on his toe . He made life hell for nurse Martin Platt during his hospital visit , and stole drugs from the unlocked trolley . He overdosed and had to have his stomach pumped . He insisted Martin was to blame , and Martin resigned when the hospital believed Les over him . After Janice learned Les was going to spend the compensation money on a holiday with Jackie Dobbs , she told the hospital board Les had taken the medication on his own . Problems with Toyah . Toyah began to take English lessons from Ken Barlow , as she wanted to become a writer . Les thought Ken was making a move on Toyah and headbutted him . Toyah , sickened by Les , ran away to London to find what she thought was her real father , Neil Flynn , who tied her up in his flat . Janice and Les followed the trail and found her after she ' d run away from Flynn . Les continued to alienate Toyah , as he beat up her boyfriend Spider and Toyah left home . Les continued to be a problem until Spider , who had started working for DSS , discovered Les was claiming benefits while working on the canal . Les was forced to leave Toyah and Spider alone . The DSS ultimately discovered Les ' s duplicity without Spider ' s help and Les was sentenced to 150 days community service scrubbing graffiti . He teased Tyrone Dobbs for being illiterate , so Tyrone got his own back by spraying more graffiti each time Les cleaned a wall , and when Les helped out at a local park , removing Les ' s rowing boat so that he was marooned on an island overnight . Les and Janice split up . Janice was disgusted with Les when he drank the money she ' d saved for their electricity bill , and the power was cut off . During a holiday in Wales , a young man named Owen Williams made a pass at Janice . She considered his offer , but when Les was electrocuted , she realised she couldn ' t cheat on him . Owen followed the family back to Weatherfield and asked Janice to join him in Wales . Les beat him up . Janice had had enough of Les ; the final straw being when he gave her a deep fryer for their anniversary . She began an affair with Eileen Grimshaw ' s partner , Dennis Stringer and left Les for him . Ironically , when Les tried to gas himself on New Years ' Night , it was Dennis who came to his rescue . When Dennis tried to get Les to hospital , the car he was driving flipped over on a hill and crashed into the field below . Dennis died in the ICU of the Weatherfield General on 2nd January 2002 . Les was relatively unhurt . In 2003 , Janice began dating policeman Mick Hopwood and when Les found this out he punched Mick . Mick lied that the attack was worse than it really was and Les was sentenced to six months in jail . Janice left Mick after this . 2004 - 2007 : Relationship with Cilla . Meeting and wedding . When Les came back , he found out he ' d lost his job in Street Cars . This was around the time young Chesney Brown came into his life - and his mother . Les met falsely named ' Lulu ' in a pub . He slept with her , but in the end , he found that this was Chesney and Fiz Brown ' s tart of a mum , Cilla . In 2004 , after an ugly fight , Cilla left for six weeks . Les was left alone with Chesney and took the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with Janice . They had almost reconciled until Cilla returned , and , using her sex appeal and false claims of coming into money , won Les back . In spite of Cilla ' s shrewish ways , the two schemers had some affection for each other , and even planned on getting married , mainly for the wedding presents ! On Friday 23rd September 2005 , he met his idols Status Quo - who battered him for a grave incident twenty years previously . They settled a deal to rock at his wedding , which they did . Wedded bliss didn ' t last long though , as an overexcited Les , trying to be a rock star , smashed all the presents he and Cilla had received . Cilla left Les behind and went on the honeymoon with her best mate Yana Lumb . Night with Janice . In March 2006 , Les jumped into bed again with Janice . She was drunk and depressed and he helped her home . Janice was disgusted with herself and the only pleasure she had was in rubbing Cilla ' s nose in the one - night stand . Cilla only took Les back when he offered to crawl over the Street cobbles . Adopting Chesney . Les regretted his mistakes with his daughters and tried to be more of a father to Chesney . Chesney adored him and in 2006 , asked a delighted Les to officially become his father . After some initial haggling with social workers , and resentment from Cilla , the adoption went through . Cilla ' s cancer ; Les ' s adultery . In mid - 2006 , Cilla began keeping secrets . No one knew the real reason was treatments for skin cancer . Les , believing Cilla was having an affair , had a one - night stand with Yana , who was upset with Cilla for not confiding in her . Chesney saw them , and told Cilla . A furious Cilla pretended her cancer was terminal , and guilted Les and Yana into sitting in a bathtub of mushy peas in freezing temperatures , all because she wanted money to " swim with the dolphins . " When she got the money , she told everyone she was fine , and left a furious Les to go holiday in Florida . When she returned , they reconciled and Cilla , Les and Chesney all lived together . 2007 - 2014 : Departure and aftermath . Les disappeared in May 2007 . He was last seen in the Street Cars office , talking to Steve McDonald and Jamie Baldwin . His absence was initially explained as being a roadie for tribute band ZZ Top o ' the Morning . By late 2007 , Cilla had also left the Street , and Chesney was raised by Fiz and Kirk . Les contacted Chesney in March 2008 to say he was still not returning home . Chesney began to sense Les was not coming back , and became angry . In November 2008 , Cilla sent Chesney and Kirk plane tickets to South Africa , telling them she was with Les . In the direct to DVD special " Out of Africa " , they showed up only to learn that Cilla was with a South African man named Lesedi , and that Cilla had not heard from Les in quite some time . In May 2009 , when Chesney wanted to learn where cabbie Eddie Windass ( whose clan had replaced the Battersbys as the " family from hell " ) had been taking Fiz , he found an old Status Quo button which had once belonged to Les , and gave it to Eddie , implying that he had finally accepted Les was no longer a part of his life . In June 2011 , Les ' ex - girlfriend Stella Price turned up in Weatherfield and told Leanne that she was her mother . In October 2014 , Cilla revealed that she was no longer in contact with Les . Quotes . " Did yer do the shopping ? " ( First line , to daughter Leanne ) " I ' ll tell you who ' s a man ' s man . . . ! " ( Final line , to Jamie Baldwin and Steve McDonald )