ritchie stringer, played by gareth hunt, is a gang boss who knows phil mitchell (steve mcfadden). phil contacts him in april 2001 to call in a few favours. ritchie and phil have a mutual acquaintance, dan sullivan (craig fairbrass). phil asks ritchie to help him frame dan. dan had worked for ritchie in the past, and so he does not suspect anything untoward when ritchie provides him with a gun to do a raid on phil. however it is all part of phil's plan, and dan is caught by the police in the middle of the armed robbery. it transpires that the gun ritchie had given dan is the same gun that lisa shaw (lucy benjamin) had used to shoot phil earlier that year. dan is blamed for the shooting.