| abstract | - Gerald Francis "Jez" Quigley was a drug dealer and gangster to whom Steve McDonald turned for a job in 1997, which was unsuccessful. Jez had Tony Horrocks brutally beaten up and locked in a cellar in February 1999; his body would not be discovered until 2000. Jez returned to the Street in 1999, and he supplied cocaine to Leanne Battersby, who became addicted. When Tony's body was discovered in 2000, Steve stood up to Jez at the trial at Weatherfield Crown Court and gave evidence against him. However, Jez was acquitted, and angry that Steve stood up to him, trapped Steve in an underground car park on the Rusholt Estate and had him beaten up by a gang of thugs. When Steve's father Jim found out, Jim went to Jez's flat and confronted him. Jez then tried to attack Jim with a baseball bat but Jim pinned him to the ground and punched him violently in the stomach, leaving Jez severely injured. Jez was then admitted to Weatherfield General with his injuries but deciding he still had a score to settle, confronted Steve in his ward and threatened to detach Steve's equipment. In a struggle to prevent Steve from raising the alarm with the panic button, Jez's spleen suddenly ruptured and he subsequently died on the way to the operating theatre. Later in the year, Jim was sentenced to prison for eight years. He was let out in 2007 for good behaviour.
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