in 2003, it is revealed that den had indeed been shot, but the shot had only wounded him. aided by his mistress jan hammond (jane how), den was able to escape to spain where he forged a new life. he finally returns to walford on 29 september 2003. the body which had been found, wrongly-identified and buried had actually been the body of the unseen mr. vinnicombe, who was said to have been jack's predecessor as head of the firm during the 1980s. dalton had been displeased with vinnicombe's failure to murder den, and so ordered a member of the firm to kill him and dump his body in the canal at the location where den had been shot (his teeth were then bricked out to prevent dental identification) – implying a power struggle for control of "the firm" at this time. he also dumped den's distinctive ring in the canal to further increase the likelihood of the body being identified as that of den. upon vinnicombe's demise, jack was able to gain firm control of the organisation.