Stephen Thompson

"Thompson was a violent and abusive character and some may argue that he deserved to have the ending he had. However, he had a very charming attitude and could easily worm his way into any woman's bed. He enjoyed the suffering of others and was not an innocent person."

- T.J Williams describing his character 2019

Stephen Patrick Thompson (July 13 1941 - April 17 1975) was the first husband and victim of Dora Mitchell and the father of Emily. He was having an affair with Karen White, whilst still married to his wife and fathered her child Jack. He was a notorious career criminal and part of the criminal underground in Stafford, who participated in many armed robberies, but was never caught and therefore never arrested for the crime.

Early life
Thompson was born on July 13 1941 in Stafford. He was the second child of Archer Thompson (1911-1952) and Eileen (nee Delaney; 1913-1988). They already had a four year old daughter named Francesca and later had three more children named Bernadette, and twins Leonard and Phillip. During his childhood, the family lived on Horseshoe Lane in Stafford and he attended the local Brick Lane School. His father was hanged for manslaughter and armed robbery in 1952, when Thompson was eleven. His mother then became remarried to Jeffery Greeman.

Marriage to Dora Mitchell
Main article: Mr & Mrs. Thompson

Stephen Thompson and Dora Mitchell married on August 3rd 1961 at Walton Hall in Stafford. Their marriage sustained irreparable consequences in 1969, after Dora kissed Michael Barryman, who was dating her sister Julia, they met at her twenty-sixth birthday party and she caught them in the act. Their marriage was successful preceding her betrayal. However, after Dora admitted to being unfaithful, following the birth of their only child Emily, Thompson found it hard to trust her again. Although, he lied when he told her she could be forgiven, he was not averse to an occasional dalliance with other women. He began having an affair with a woman named Karen White, who he met in the Forester's Arms pub. He and Karen would have sexual encounters at her house, due to Thompson not wanting Dora finding out. Even though Dora thought that she had long been forgiven, their marriage became loveless. Thompson always told his mistress that he would leave Dora, to be with her, but never implemented on it. On the night of July 30 1974, Thompson told Dora that he wanted a divorce, resulting in an uproar. Succeeding their argument, Thompson walked out of the house, as Dora went upstairs to check on their daughter, who she found laying senselessly in her bed. She tried and failed to wake Emily up, before she rang for an ambulance. It was evident that she had passed away, after one of the paramedics tried to resuscitate her. When Thompson returned home steaming drunk, after spending several hours at the pub, he went immediately to bed. Dora informed Thompson about the death of Emily, when he caught her crying the next morning and they were later told by a coroner, who looked into the death of Emily, that she died of a coughing syncope. They later buried her at Stafford Cemetery, after her funeral. There was subsequently an awkward silence between them and they stopped spending time alone together, talking to each other and sleeping together. The marriage came to a ferocious ending on April 17 1975, when Dora returned home early from work one day and caught Stephen in bed with another woman. She forcibly dragged his mistress out of bed and thrown her out of the house. Leading to a disagreement, during which she ferociously beat him to death with an ashtray and buried his corpse in their back garden. She then set ablaze their house the following morning, but vanished before the firefighters had arrived at the scene.

Relationship with Karen White
In 1971, Thompson was drinking at a pub in Stafford, called the Foresters Arms, when a young brunette woman asked if he would buy her a drink, which he agreed to. They had a long conversation that night, getting to know each other and had sex in the pub's toilet. After this, they would meet up to have sex at her house or sometimes his, although this was very rare. She worked as an exotic dancer at a nightclub, belonging to a gangster. After a while, Karen began falling in love with Thompson and he always promised to leave his wife and come and live with her, but never fulfilled his promise. One day in 1975, he invited her over to his house, whilst his wife was at work and they were caught in bed together by his wife, who dragged her out of bed, forced her out of the house and threw her clothes out of the window. That was the last time she ever saw Thompson. The following year, she gave birth to his son, she named Jack.