John moves Charlotte's body out of the house and pretends to have found her in the wreckage of the tram. The paramedics find Charlotte's pulse and she is placed on a ventilator to help her breathe. However, John and her parents are told she will not regain consciousness due to heavy brain damage. They all decide to switch off the life support machine. John and Fiz worry for Hope when they learn she has a hole in her heart, which can be treated with medication. John begins visiting Joy and helping her with her shopping. John eventually confesses everything to Joy, who has an angina attack from the shock. Someone comes to the door and John panics and puts his hand over Joy's mouth to stop her screaming. Joy then dies and John leaves her house. John suffers a breakdown and is hospitalised. On his return, he holds his daughter for the first time and gets a job at the local betting shop. John stops taking his medication, but after learning Fiz has claimed Joy's inheritance fraudulently, he freaks out and barricades himself in his office. John disappears, but later returns and tells Fiz about how Charlotte was blackmailing him.