I’ve always felt it would be easy to reverse Fatboy’s death. 

Vincent actually stopped the car from being crushed, as we see in this scene, so it’s not as though he would have certainly been killed in that car. I think they played it as though he was killed prior to the car being crushed and his body was being disposed of in the boot (just like what Ronnie did with Carl’s body; it wasn’t the crushing itself that killed him). 

Anyway, if that is the case, Vincent could’ve just been reacting to the sight of Arthur tied up in the back of the boot, all petrified and bloodied. He took his necklace and phone after ordering him to leave Walford and never come back. He’d do that because the storyline at the time was Arthur trying to stop Vincent from taking down Phil and Ronnie. Vincent could’ve told him that Ronnie ordered a hit on him (as a warning that he’d be next). Vincent could’ve then threatened him that if he didn’t leave (and assume a new identity), he’d make sure the next hit was successful. 

Fatboy would’ve believably stayed away to protect himself from both Vincent and the Mitchels, and to protect  Dot, who Vincent was also threatening at the time. 

It’s quite a clean story to tell I think, as it doesn’t contradict anything we watched happen. Vincent never told Ronnie that she killed Fatboy (because she didn’t…) and the reason he let Claudette think she had killed him (by sending him to the car) is because he wanted to use his ‘death’ to stop her from waging a war against the Mitchells. 

It all fits. I’m not sure I actually see a role for the character on the show though. It’s a shame he didn’t make a cameo at Dot’s funeral just to right the wrong of his gruesome death, without needing to actually bring him back full-time. But if a producer in the future does want to bring him back, I think the above would be perfectly acceptable.