Jim suffers a personal tragedy with the death of his baby daughter, Katie McDonald. He splits from Liz soon afterwards after she berates him for punching Steve during an argument. Liz goes to manage a nearby pub for a while but they soon reconcile and give their marriage another chance. By 1994, Jim is drinking heavily and his angry nature developed rapidly. He finds himself arguing repeatedly with family and friends and his marriage hits new depths in 1996 when he hits her at a service station in Macclesfield and drives off after she admits having an affair with a former army colleague many years earlier. Jim is arrested soon afterwards for trying to break into their house and after further breaching the conditions of a restraining order, he spends several weeks in prison for burglary and criminal damage.