in the late 1980s, den became involved with "walford investments", aka the firm, and was forced to become the titular manager of strokes wine bar (formerly henry's), which was owned by the firm and was really a front for illegal gambling. strokes had a rival bar in the form of the dagmar, fronted by james willmott-brown (william boyde), who went on to rape kathy beale (gillian taylforth), the wife of den's best friend. den used his connections with the firm to arrange for the dagmar to be torched. the fire drew attention to the illegal goings-on at strokes, and thus greatly angered the firm. den refused to take the blame and the firm believed that he had informed the police about them. consequently, dalton decided to have den murdered, and two of their members followed him to manchester in september 1988 when he went there to seek refuge with a friend. however, he managed to outrun them in his friend's car and handed himself into the police, who remanded him in custody on an arson charge until he appeared in court the following february.