in august that year, shirley has problems with her new neighbour, gavin sharp (steve nicolson). he lives in the flat above hers and plays extremely loud music at all hours, meaning shirley cannot sleep. she tries reasoning with him several times but he laughs at her, only playing his music louder, so she complains to the council. maddened, gavin threatens to make her life a misery as payback. days later, shirley's cat disappears and shirley fears that gavin is responsible. whilst dan confronts gavin about boots, little mo (kacey ainsworth) walks into the queen victoria pub, cuddling boots. shirley rewards her with money but later that day, shirley finds boots on her doorstep – dead in a plastic bin bag. shirley turns to the ferreiras for help, and dan confronts gavin again. gavin denies killing boots and says that he found her lying dead in the road and left her on shirley's doorstep so she could bury her. shirley, however, is not convinced. gavin's taunting continues when he puts her telephone number on a card, advertising her as a prostitute, and distributes it across walford. later, while she is at work, gavin breaks into her flat and tips rotten rubbish all over the floor. shirley is distraught, and seeing her angst, ash ferreira (raji james), decides to help. he plays gavin at his own game, borrowing his brother's amplifier and speakers and playing dance music extremely loudly. he then breaks into gavin's flat and lets a rat loose. gavin is petrified of rats and when he discovers it, he agrees to call a truce if they remove it.