dennis sees east end gangland lord jack dalton (hywel bennett) as a father figure as he worked for him since his teens, collecting debts amongst other things, and his prison stint is due to working for jack. after dennis's release, jack orders phil to kill dennis after he becomes independent of him. however, dennis ends up killing jack in a shooting next to a railway line, but not before jack reveals that den survived the 1989 shooting, and that the body found in the canal a year later was in fact that of another local gangster who had been murdered on dalton's orders for failing to kill den. dennis later tracks down den's former mistress jan hammond (jane how) and finds out that den fled to spain. he flies out to spain and finds the address where den is now believed to be living, but lacks the courage to knock on the door and find out. he later reveals all too sharon, but she refuses to believe that her father is still alive.