Corrie star confirms comeuppance for evil acid attacker Justin

Guilty, or not guilty? (Picture: ITV)

The sickening actions of stalker Justin Rutherford (Andrew Still) led to massive suffering for both Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan) and Ryan Connor (Ryan Prescott) in Coronation Street.

Daisy was subjected to weeks of mental torment as Justin’s unwanted attentions started to affect every aspect of her life until she no longer felt safe anywhere.

Justin was obsessed by Daisy, in his own mind thinking that they were meant to be together. When it finally became clear this was never going to happen he set out to disfgure her face with acid, but when he threw the liquid at her on her wedding day Ryan Connor got in the way – and ended up with life-changing injuries that will scar him for life.

As Justin stands trial for his crimes, Andrew Still explained his approach to playing such a disturbed – and disturbing – individual.

‘It’s always fun to play a bad guy,’ he shared. ‘I do usually play troubled characters and Justin is definitely troubled. I have had to try and find the truth and the realism in him otherwise it just comes across as an inauthentic villain.

‘I know this sounds crazy but as an actor, you have to try and find that sympathy in the character and relate to them on a human level. So I thought about his mum passing away, his isolation and loneliness and the fact that he doesn’t have anyone and that he’s latched on to Daisy due to a really tenuous connection that he feels is something more, in his head. I’ve just had to try and play that all believably and make it all feel real.’

The trial scenes are incredibly dramatic, as Justin attempts to fool the jury by spinning a whole alternative scenario to them – something that comes quite easily to such a deluded individual.

The result will be given (Picture: ITV)

‘The very last scene we filmed was when Justin takes the stand and I had like a three page monologue to say so it was quite nerve-racking!’ Andrew revealed. ‘I remember waiting all week for this one big scene! I felt a lot of nervous energy going into that scene which was good because that’s exactly how Justin would feel too because it’s his last big gamble.’

The scenes were filmed in a real court and this added to the atmosphere for the actor – as did its TV history.

‘It was the court that they used when they filmed Happy Valley, so the defendant box is the one that James Norton’s character, Tommy Lee Royce, climbed out of!’ Andrew told us. ‘There’s so much history in that court too, like there are old Victorian cells underneath the court so I was going straight from there up into the box which was weird.’

Tommy Lee Royce escaped trial and later went on the run (Picture: BBC)

As the trial reaches its conclusion, Andrew said the outcome remains very much in the balance as Daisy and Ryan desperately hope for a guilty verdict.

‘Viewers are really not going to know until the end which side the coin is going to fall on,’ he teased.

Whether Justin is found guilty and sent to prison or not, one thing that’s certain is that justice will be done one way or another as soap baddies always face punishment eventually. Andrew thinks this is the right thing to do.

‘When I have been a viewer of a show and watched a character do terrible things, I can’t help but hope that it’s going to come back to bite them,’ he said. ‘I think that Justin certainly deserves justice to be served because what he has done has been horrendous. I definitely think he should get his comeuppance.’

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