Karl Munro Karl Munro is the former husband of Stella Price ; previous owner of the Rovers Return . During his time in Coronation Street Karl had an affair with Sunita Alahan , which led to his separation from Stella . After being thrown out of Sunita ' s house due to his laziness , Karl took a darker route in desperation to win Stella back , including kidnapping her and later burning her partner Jason Grimshaw ' s van . After setting the Rovers on fire he indirectly killed Toni Griffiths and later killed Sunita in hospital ( she had confronted him in the pub and been trapped in the blaze ) . Over the next few months Karl began to settle down again with Stella , while trying to hide his guilt over the Rovers ' fire and Sunita ' s death . He was eventually found out : on his wedding day Jason and Dev Alahan pieced together Karl ' s involvement in the fire . Karl later surrendered to the police after injuring Dev and briefly holding Stella hostage in the Rovers . Biography . 1963 - 2011 : Background . Karl was a cab driver who grew up in Manchester . He first met Stella in 2006 when she needed a ride when stuck in the rain , and he gave her a ride home . Shortly after they began their relationship , Karl cheated on her several times . 2011 - 2012 : Arrival in Coronation Street . In June 2011 Karl arrived in Coronation Street along with Stella and her daughter Eva Price ; Stella had become landlady of the Rovers Return . They moved in with the pub ' s owner Steve McDonald . Karl got a job at Street Cars in June 2011 . Later in the year , he won £1 , 000 from Ciaran McCarthy playing poker with some of the lads in the back room of the Rovers . This was Ciaran ' s and Michelle Connor ' s wedding money , but Karl gambled it away . Karl developed a gambling addiction and spent his Street Cars fares at the The Sunset Casino . Despite winning a lot of money he lost it all on one gamble . When Lloyd Mullaney questioned him about being absent all day , he made up a story that his car had broken down . Unbeknownst to Karl , Lloyd had tried to kiss Stella after helping her in the Rovers , as she was supporting him after his break - up with Cheryl Gray . 2012 - 2013 : Affair with Sunita . In 2012 he started an affair with Sunita Alahan and began creeping about . He almost got caught out by Dev and Kevin Webster . In July , Karl resumed his affair with Sunita for one night until Stella and her daughters Leanne and Eva came back to the Rovers to find Karl and Sunita . After that Stella broke up with Karl ; she banged on Sunita ' s door , causing several of the neighbours to emerge . Stella then slapped former friend Sunita before calling her a slag just as Dev came out . Later that night Karl had to sleep in his cab after Stella threw him and his belongings out . He was sacked by Lloyd the next morning . Karl moved in with Sunita at 7 Coronation Street after Dev allowed her to continue living there . Karl still missed Stella and began to regret his actions and disliked being with Sunita . Several times Karl pleaded with Stella to take him back , however she kept refusing . When Gloria turned up on the scene , Karl began asking her to talk to Stella to no avail . When Karl came to realise that Sunita had deleted his text message to Stella on the night she wanted to rekindle their romance , he angrily confronted Sunita . He returned to find her changing the locks of the house . Karl moved into a bedsit and begged Steve to give him his job back , which Steve agreed to do after talking with Stella . In 2013 Karl began to spiral out of control . When Gloria ' s new fiancé Eric Babbage passed away , Karl offered his support by comforting Gloria and helping out behind the bar . He was still in love with Stella and wasn ' t happy with her relationship with Jason Grimshaw . He tried to convince her that it wouldn ' t work because Jason was younger than her . After a meeting with the brewery , Karl picked her up and took her for a talk . He broke down and a sympathetic Stella comforted him ' he said he should try and move on and stop seeing her . The next day he returned only for Gloria to blurt out about Karl locking Stella in the taxi , which prompted Lloyd and Steve to sack him a second time ; a smug Sunita looked on in glee . Karl later visited Sunita and threatened that he wasn ' t going anywhere . The next day , Karl stole Jason ' s van , torched it and gave Jason ' s description to the police . However Jason had an alibi ( he was in the Rovers at the time ) . Stella , who didn ' t think Karl could be capable of doing such a thing , got him a job working for Owen Armstrong at the Builder ' s Yard . 2013 onwards : Rovers Fire , back with Stella and downfall . Karl ' s jealousy of Jason and Stella began to grow . On the evening of 18th March , as other Coronation Street residents were out partying at Nick ' s Bistro , Karl secretly let himself into the Rovers ' cellar and , using alcohol as an accelerant , set fire to a piece of paper . Sunita , who had followed Karl down the ginnel , spotted him and asked for an explanation . She tried to escape from the cellar , but Karl grabbed her and pushed her down the stairs . Sunita landed next to the roaring flames , unconscious . Karl was shocked to see his ex - girlfriend lying on the floor and quickly ran down the stairs . He discovered that Sunita was not moving . Panicked and thinking that he had killed her , he ran out of the pub , leaving her to the flames . Karl returned to the party just in time for the finale of the " Full Monty " . As Norris Cole and Emily Bishop came out of No . 3 commenting on the noise coming from the Bistro , they spotted the fire and called the fire brigade . When Karl realised that Stella was in the Rovers , he used the spare set of keys to rescue her . They made their way into the bedroom , where firefighter Toni Griffiths aided them out . Toni was killed in the process . Convinced that she owed her life to Karl , Stella asked him to move in at 13 Coronation Street where the Price family were temporarily living , and although Jason didn ' t approve , he went along with the arrangement . Stella promptly dumped Jason and asked Karl to accompany her to Sunita ' s funeral . At the Crematorium , Karl broke down and admitted to Stella that he killed Sunita , although she didn ' t believe him and misread his confession . Stella and Karl shared a kiss before pulling back . Shortly after this they rekindled their relationship . Stella soon accepted Karl ' s proposal . Just prior to their wedding day , Karl admitted to Jason that he had torched his van , which led to Jason and Dev believing that Karl could have torched the Rovers . Upon learning that Craig Tinker had seen him exiting the pub on the night of the fire , Karl convinced the lad that he was responsible and threatened to kill his mother should he open his mouth . Realising that something was terribly amiss , Beth , Dev and Kirk Sutherland coaxed the information out of Craig just after he had run away ; Craig admitted to dropping a discarded cigarette in the Rovers ' yard . Explaining to him that the fire started in the cellar , they informed Craig that it was Karl who was the real killer . Jason took Craig to the police station to make a statement while Dev ensnared Karl in the pub . The pair began to fight and Dev was knocked unconscious . As Stella arrived at the pub and witnessed an injured Dev on the floor , Karl revealed all . The police arrived as Karl threatened start a fire behind the Rovers bar . In his final moments as a free man , Karl held Stella in the pub ' s cellar but she managed to persuade him not to keep running and he was subsequently arrested . Karl was later sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment . This means he won ' t be released until 2038 . Quotes . " I got lost , alright ? Everything looks the same around here . What ? Had to say goodbye to the lads . " ( First line to Stella Price . ) " Come to see me off have you ? Really touched . " ( Final line to Jason Grimshaw before being arrested ) .