Michael 'Mick' Cornus was the abusive step-father of Joel Dexter. Mick was violent towards his wife, Marie Fielding, and her son Joel. Joel, one day, fought back and brutally assaulted Mick. Mick pressed charges and Joel served a six-month imprisonment sentence for assault.
Mick arrived in the village in September 2012. Brendan Brady witnessed Mick attack Joel and encouraged Joel to let him help him. Brendan kidnapped Mick and had Joel beat him up, but Mick ended up overpowering Joel and locking him in the boot of Brendan's car. Mick then went after Joel's girlfriend, Theresa McQueen, who managed to escape when Joel and Brendan found and attacked him. They knocked him unconscious and Mick awoke hanging upside down off the top of a lighthouse. Having had their fun, Joel and Brendan pulled Mick up, but Mick attempted to attack Brendan. Joel rushed in between to defend Brendan, in the process causing Mick to fall off the lighthouse.
Presuming he was dead, Brendan put Mick in the boot of his car and planned to dispose of his body with the help of Simon Walker. Walker heard banging from the boot and discovered that Mick had survived the fall. Walker revealed that he was working as an undercover officer, but said that he wanted to get Brendan sent to prison for murder. Walker then grabbed the plastic that Mick had been wrapped in, and used it to suffocate Mick to death. Upon arriving at an abandoned shed, Brendan used the tools inside to dismember Mick's body.
In March 2013, Brendan told the police that he had killed Mick in his 'final confession', having never found out the truth behind Mick's death.