2010	Law & Order: Blackmail	T	DVD -R HQ 11715		Episode. 1-15-2010	Freelance Journalist Megan Kerrick writing for Citysmear.com is murdered and the detectives find a connection between her and a talk show host who has had a series of workplace affairs. Editor Dennis DiPalma (Raul Esparza) of Citysmear.com.She works from home and after her murder, her laptop is stolen. She was doing a story on female workers who sleep with their female bosses. One of her sources, Sara Bradley, didn’t want to talk about it. Her boss is Vanessa Carville  (Samantha Bee), a vicious TV talk-show host of the program, “The Sisters,” who has slept with many of her female employees, even though she is married. She knew Megan Kerrick was working on the story, and she had slept with Kerrick and got dumped by her.  DiPalma, Megan’s editor, blackmails Carville and is caught in a sting. He claims the blackmail is bogus. When Megan brought him the story, the police say he had a better idea: to blackmail her and put the money in an offshore account.  So he hijacked Megan’s story. DiPalma says he is looking forward to telling his whole story in court. They say DiPalma is a practicing journalist not a blackmailer. Another journalist, Derek Fanning, is now acting editor for Featureliteristics. Turns out DiPalma was hard up for money and Derek suggested the blackmail plot., Derek also killed Megan to keep her from talking. Fake story in the New York Ledger says DiPalma is receiving half-a-million dollars to write a book about Carville brings the case to a conclusion when Derek and DiPalma have a falling out. Megan’s missing laptop is found abandoned in a coffee shop. Shows DiPalma having rough sex with Megan the day of the murder. DiPalma was forced to look as if he were strangling Megan because Derek was holding a gun on him. When Megan said she would have nothing to do with the blackmail plot, Derek killed her and hid her body. DiPalma says he did whatever Derek told him. DiPalma takes a plea to testify against Derek. Many elements of “Blackmail” are inspired directly from the David Letterman scandal. Like Letterman, Carville finds an envelope with an extortion demand on her way to work. Both Letterman and Carville decided to go public with the information rather than pay the blackmail, and both made on-screen confessions about their affairs during a broadcast of their talk show. In a restaurant, reporter Megan Kerrick tells another woman that she would be a totally anonymous source, but the other woman says she doesn’t understand the point in talking about it. She concerned someone would figure out her identity. She adds she has a new job and isn’t widely considered a slut and things are fine the way they are. But Megan argues that it is not right, and it keeps happening over and over. The other woman responds that she’ll think about it and will let her know.Later, Detectives Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) and Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson) arrive at the scene of an uncompleted building, the police officer saying that the developer ran out of money. Construction ended 6 months ago and security is “half-assed.” Someone called in finding the body using 911 at a pay phone and the caller left no name. They see a woman’s body lying underneath the metal; it is the reporter we saw at the restaurant. Lupo sees bruises on her neck, but there is no blood. The police officer tells them no purse or ID was found, and wonders if she is a “working girl” who brought a john up there. But Lupo says her clothes are clean, no track marks on her arm, and no chops in her manicure. The police office comments that she could have been there forever before anybody found her, and Bernard responds he thinks that was the plan.At the morgue, ME Rodgers (Leslie Hendrix) tells the detectives the victim died last night, and she was strangled. There is no vaginal tearing and no semen so she hadn’t had sex recently or she used a condom, but Rodgers did find a public hair on her upper inner thigh that is not her. It’s the wrong gender, and Rodgers tells them to find the penis it belongs to and they will have a lead. Lupo says they will get right on that.Bernard enters Lt. Anita Van Buren’s (S. Epatha Merkerson) office to tell her they got a hit, but she is distracted by her medical bills. She realizes she was charged $89 for a “mucous recovery system” – a box of tissues. The Jane Doe is Megan Kerrick, her fingerprints matched a set in the Pentagon’s database, she was a freelance journalist who accompanied the USO troops to Afghanistan. The Pentagon takes their prints and DNA in case they are blown up. Lupo enters and tells them they also list next of kin, and he just got off the phone with her sister in San Diego who told him Megan wasn’t married, she never heard of any boyfriend, and that Megan spent most of her time writing for a web site called Citysmear.com, a site that digs up dirt on celebrities and others, the more embarrassing the more they like it. Van Buren tells them to find out who Megan has been embarrassing lately.At the offices of Citysmear.com, they speak with the editor Dennis DiPalma (Raul Esparza) who asks if Megan’s death has been reported yet. Bernard asks if he is looking for a scoop, and DiPalma says it depends on what she was working on. He calls in Derek and asks what Megan was working on but he doesn’t know, she was just working on a story about a big environmental movie star who sent her cocker spaniel to Paris. When DiPalma tells Derek that Megan has been killed, he asks if it has been reported anywhere yet. The detectives give each other a look. DiPalma says Megan wasn’t working on anything for them that would get her killed. Lupo asks if he figures the cocker spaniel is in the clear, and DiPalma laughs uncomfortably. DiPalma says Megan was a freelance contributor and they have hundreds. Lupo asks to look at her desk, but as far as DiPalma knows she worked from home.The detectives search Megan’s home and the home is neat and tidy. There is no computer and a file drawer is unlocked with a big gap inside. Bernard thinks the killer took her purse and he had her keys. Lupo checks an answering machine and there is a message on there from “Sara” who tells her she is sorry but she doesn’t want to talk about this and she thinks she should forget the story.At the home of Sara Bradley, she explains that she only met Megan that one time, she contacted her out of the blue and said she wanted to meet her about a story – people who sleep with their bosses, which she did. She didn’t want to talk about it because she has a boyfriend and a new boss, and she didn’t want them to know. Megan told Sara she talked to a woman who used to work where she used to work and had the same “position:” that she did with the boss. The problem is the boss is not a “he.”In Van Buren’s office, Van Buren, Lupo, and Bernard are watching a woman’s show called “The Sisters” with Vanessa Carville (Samantha Bee) as host. Megan was writing about women who were sleeping with Vanessa, which could have included Megan as Megan had been a production associate on The Sisters. Van Buren says she loves the show, it’s a great way of turning off your brain for an hour. Lupo asks her if she’d still love it if she knew Vanessa was plowing through her female employees. They wonder as Vanessa is married with a family if she found what Megan was writing about…and Van Buren tells them to go see her. Before they leave, she tells them, “And one more thing. I don’t know what kind of downtown look you guys are going for with this stubble and all, but it’s not working.” Lupo chuckles and asks, “For downtown or for you?” She responds, “Both. Have you looked in the mirror lately detective? You’re not in Karachi anymore. Alright?” As Lupo looks a little stunned, Bernard smiles and says, “OK” and they leave her office. Lupo turns and looks back to her and she turns “The Sisters” back on.At a restaurant, Bernard asks Lupo if he ever watches her show and he says, “Sure, when I’m not knitting booties for my cat.” The spot Vanessa sitting at a table and walk over to her and she’s dining with two men. Bernard wonders if one of them is her husband, and Lupo thinks this could be awkward. Bernard says that’s why they get paid the big bucks. When they address Vanessa, they find the man she is dining with is DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), who seems just as surprised to see them. He tells they must be mind readers, he was just going to call One PP as Vanessa just came to him with her attorney as she is being blackmailed.In McCoy’s office with her attorney, Vanessa tells McCoy and Van Buren she likes to leave for the studio early so she can read the papers before anyone gets there. She came out of her house at 6 AM and nearly tripped over an envelope of incriminating photos with her and other woman, plus e-mails and diary entries. She did not see who left it. The photos are real but she’d rather deal with it than pay $3 million to some blackmailer. McCoy tells Van Buren the cover letter asks for $3 million or this will all be published in a book. Vanessa is supposed to wait at home for a phone call at noon to arrange payment. Van Buren says this involves Megan Kerrick, and Vanessa says that things with Megan ended badly and wonders if this was revenge. Van Buren tells her that Megan was murdered two night ago, and Vanessa is shocked. When Van Buren adds that before Megan died she was working on Vanessa’s story, Vanessa concludes she is a suspect. She says she didn’t know Megan was working on the article, she hasn’t spoken to Megan in over a year. She asks what they do now, and McCoy says it can’t be a coincidence that the blackmail comes at the same time as Megan’s murder. He says they should play along with the blackmailer if she is up to it. Vanessa says she has to get to the studio but will be home before noon. Van Buren wants to get her people in there before that, and Vanessa says she will arrange that. After Vanessa leaves, McCoy asks what Van Buren thinks. She says she killed Megan to keep her quiet, coming forward with a bogus blackmail story would be a smart way to throw them off. But McCoy finds that hard to believe, but just in case – and he points to Vanessa’s coffee cup for Van Buren to take for fingerprints and/or DNA.At the home of Vanessa Carville, Lupo and Bernard are there waiting for the phone call. Vanessa wonders if Megan was in on it and she tried to back out. Bernard says that’s a theory, and picks up a small sandwich to eat. Vanessa tersely asks if the other theory is that she (Vanessa) did it, and Bernard responds that’s a theory. She tells him, “No more sandwiches for you” and Bernard halts putting it in his mouth and taking a bite, and tosses it back on the plate. It is nearly 1:00 PM and no call yet, and Vanessa’s husband Wayne walks in, testy. She tells him he does not need to be there as they are handling it. Wayne says his wife’ affair with other woman and $3 million, it’s more interesting that what’s happened in the office. She tells them she is heading for the studio and they can stay if they want to, all of them/ After she walks out, Wayne, drinking, says, “Just us guys.” Bernard throws the sandwich on the plate (for the second time).Back at the 2-7, Lupo tells Van Buren the blackmailer never called. She wonders if he knew they were there and was watching the house, but Lupo said they were careful, they came in the service entrance. Van Buren wonders is Vanessa made the whole thing up. Bernard said she didn’t make this up, and he reads an entry from the file, a steamy message from Vanessa to Megan. When Bernard asks if she has seen the stuff in the blackmail package, Van Buren says she would have paid the $3 million. He also reads something from Megan’s diary where Megan said she was nervous at first but they split one of her Vicodin and a bottle of wine. Bernard shows one of the photos to “Lupes” of a picture of Vanessa in what they recognize as Sara Bradley’s apartment – the girl who said she didn’t cooperate with Megan’s research. Van Buren wonders how that picture wound up in the blackmail surprise.Back at Sara’s home, she admits she took that photo, but she never gave it to Megan. She also realizes that her back up hard drive had been stolen a few weeks ago. She filed a police report. Lupo’s phone rings, and tells the caller they will set it up. He tells Bernard that Carville got the call and it is a go.In a park area, Vanessa is going to meet the blackmailer as Lupo is waiting nearby watching and listening. Bernard is in a surveillance van doing the same. Vanessa is also wearing an earpiece so she can hear Bernard, and he tells hr to take seat on the bench. She does. Lupo sees someone approach Bernard tells Vanessa to stop talking. It is DiPalma, Megan’s editor, and Bernard comments that DiPalma said he had no idea what Megan was working on and Lupo says he guesses he lied. DiPalma asks Vanessa if she brought the check, but she asks who he is and why she is doing this. Bernard wonders what she is doing, and Lupo says she is conducting an interview. DiPalma sits down and Vanessa seems to be getting argumentative, and Lupo tells her to just give him the damn check. She does, and as DiPalma begins to walk off, Lupo stops him and arrests him.In the interrogation at the 2-7, DiPalma is there with his attorney Mr. Baron (Jason Kravits), who says the whole thing is a misunderstanding. He says he had nothing to do with Megan but his Baron tells him to shut up and tells the detectives no more questions, and asks if he should try that in French. Lupo asks if DiPalma wants to give them a key to his apartment or would he prefer they take the door off its hinges – the search warrant is on it’s way.McCoy walks into EADA Michael Cutter’s (Linus Roache) office, with ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza) present, and asks if the police found anything. Cutter says the found enough to nail DiPalma on the blackmail 10 times over, Megan’s notebooks, diary, originals of the blackmail material, the stolen computer hard drive. When McCoy asks if there is anything tying DiPalma to Megan’s murder, Rubirosa says the pubic hair found on DiPalma’s sheets matches the one found on Megan’s body. Cutter comments it is obvious what happened: Megan felt burned by her relationship with Carville and was expecting a promotion at least, instead she got dumped for the next flavor of the month and then laid off, it is all in her diaries. She wanted to get even, and McCoy suspects that DiPalma highjacked her article and be turned it into blackmail. McCoy asks if they can prove that, and Rubirosa says that wasn’t in her diary. McCoy asks what they do have on the murder, and Cutter says enough to nail DiPalma on the blackmail 10 times over. McCoy says it is better than nothing and could be a lever to shake something lose, telling them to move on it.At arraignment court, DiPalma is being arraigned for attempted grand larceny in the first degree. Baron enters a plea of not guilty, and Rubirosa requests remand as DiPalma is a key suspect in a related homicide. Baron says this is irrelevant to bail, and the judge asks if this is related to the blackmail of a TV personality for $3 million, but Baron says DiPalma is innocent . The judges suggests they pick a number for bail that is relevant, and sets it a $3 million.On the courthouse steps, Baron talks to reporters about the case, saying they have only heard Carville’s side, which the police and the DA have swallowed whole. As Cutter and Rubirosa watch from a short distance, he says this case is also about the motive and intent of Carville, and DiPalma wants to tell the full story in court and if in defending his reputation other people are damaged, that’s just the way it’s got to be. He says he has a few questions for Carville, adding actually more than a few. Cutter comments to Rubirosa, “Now the real blackmail begins.”In the judges chambers, Baron is seeking a long list of material and he argues that it is only fair as DiPalma has a right to get his story out and says the information is likely to lead to credible and relevant evidence for the defense. He wants tax returns for the last 10 years to see if she took any business deductions for incriminating material. Cutter sarcastically asked if he thinks Carville itemized previous blackmail attempts, and Baron says he want to know if she has bought any material similar to that offered to her by DiPalma. Cutter argues DiPalma was not selling a book, he was committing larceny by extortion. But Baron argues DiPalma was conduction a journalistic sting as he was going to publish an expose of Carville's behavior on his web site. But Cutter challenges why DiPalma demanded a $3 million check NOT to publish it? Baron says DiPalma was never going to cash that check, he was going to post a photo of it on his web site as proof she had something to hide. Cutter, smiling, says they are straying into absolute fantasy, but Baron counters asking what kind of blackmailer asks for a payment by check? Cutter responds, “A dumb one! This isn’t an intelligence test, this is a criminal proceeding, and these defense subpoenas are onerous, unreasonable, and designed merely to harass the victim of the crime. “ He goes on to read from the list, citing the defense wants the personnel files of 200 of her Carville’s employees going back to 1992, and Baron is looking for sexual harassment complaints, or if any have been granted special treatment ion exchange for sexual favors. The judge tells Baron that his requests are extraordinary but she will see the briefs on it.At the TV studio of “The Sisters,” Carville is apoplectic about the possibility the judge will allow some of this. Rubirosa says the law is on their side, but Carville said she just had a candid talk with the audience about this and she hoped she wouldn’t have to say anything else. Cutter reminds her she will have to be a witness at the trial, Carville guesses she knew that but adds things are a little tense on the home front. Her husband or his attorney may end up at that trial taking notes if they end up fighting over child custody, and the things that could come out. Cutter promises her that he will fight to keep the trial as narrowly focused as they can. Carville says the other guy is the criminal, asking why are we doing all the fighting?Afterwards as they walk down the street, Rubirosa comments that with child custody, Carville is probably wishing she paid the $3 million. Cutter says Baron is playing a game and nothing he is asking for is relevant, but Rubirosa says a judge might disagree. Cutter days they will handle adding, adding they should shoot down the claim that DiPalma was practicing journalism, not blackmail. He asks about the check DiPalma was never going to cash, and Rubirosa says that it was made out, at DiPalma’s request, to something called Feature Literistics, and Cutter asks what the hell is that?Back at the offices of Citysmear.com, Derek tells them he is busy because he is now acting editor. Rubirosa tells him he may be acting for 8 to 10. She asks him if he knows about Feature Literistics, and he says it sounds like a literary enterprise for someone who can’t read. He tells her he thinks she is on the wrong trail, DiPalma was never hard up for money, he has a nice apartment and car and tikes nice vacations, Rubirosa asks where.Rubirosa returns to Cutter’s office and informs him DiPalma vacationed in the Cayman Islands, and Cutter thinks offshore bank account. Rubirosa said it was opened one month ago under Feature Literistics, a corporation registered to a Bahamas PO box. Cutter comments that DiPalma went to a lot of trouble to create an untraceable account for a check he wasn’t going to cash. Rubirosa tells him that DiPalma opened the account in person during a 3 day stay at a beach report with Megan. Cutter says, “ A little more public hair transferring going on?” Rubirosa thinks either they were doing the blackmail together and had a falling out, and Cutter finishes, adding or she was working on an article and he found out about it and decided to go the blackmail route, and she did not want to go along, and he kills her. Rubirosa adds, “Or his accomplice did.” When Cutter asks what accomplice, Rubirosa tells him the weekend they were in the Caribbean is when Sara’s hard drive was stolen. As they were found in DiPalma’s apartment, the police assumed he stole it, Cutter commenting that they all did.At Rikers Island, DiPalma still denies he did anything, but Cutter says they have an opportunity here. Cutter tells him the murder has a higher priority, but Baron comments they have no evidence against DiPalma. Cutter clarifies that if another person was involved and DiPalma can help them find that person they can negotiate a plea. Rubirosa brings up Sara’s hard drive being found in his apartment after it was stolen from hers, and he said it was research for his expose and he got it himself. Cutter asks if he is confessing to burglary, and Baron quickly responds that he is not confessing to anything. Cutter insists that DiPalma is covering for somebody and asks why. When DiPalma doesn’t respond, Baron says they have nothing else to say, but hands him some briefs.Back in the judge’s chambers, she says she has been reviewing the briefs, but denies Baron’s requests for Carville’s tax records and notes from her marriage counseling sessions. Cutter adds that the employee files are privileged and confidential. But Baron argues this case is all about Carville’s relationships with her employees. Cutter reminds him it is about blackmail, asking Baron if he lost his copy of the indictment he can take a look at his. Baron tells the judge that DiPalma got most of the information from Megan Kerrick, and Rubirosa interjects that they suspect DiPalma murdered. Baron says there was no mention of that in the indictment either. He goes on to say that Megan conducted research of Carville’s former employees, several of who are not named and they need to find them to find out what Megan told them about her project. Cutter argues that these women do not need to be dragged into the limelight. Baron pushed back, saying if they can shed exculpatory light on Kerrick and DiPalma’s intentions, it is not their choice, he has the right to compel their testimony., The judge asks him to draft his subpoena more narrowly to include the files only of those women who might have been candidates in Megan’s research. As they break up, Rubirosa calls it Carville’s former lovers on parade, wondering how Carville will feel about that. Cutter says he will go talk to her.Later, Rubirosa comes into Cutter’s office as he is watching “The Sisters.” She asks how it went, and he tells her to see for herself. We see Carville on her show, bitching about how the legal system is handling this and how some of her ex-employees will be dragged through the mud. She doesn’t want this to happen to so many good people and good friends, so she announces she has not choice but to abandon her complains about DiPalma, even if it means a blackmailer goes free. Rubirosa adds, “Not to mention a murderer.”In court, Cutter is arguing Baron’s motion to dismiss, calling it premature and the evidence hasn’t disappeared. He judge reminds him the complaining witness has. Cutter says the trial has not begun and it is too early to say she isn’t going to show up. But Baron counters that she just told 10 million people she wouldn’t. Cutter says that made good television. Cutter goes on to say that they are continuing communication with the victim and the judge says good luck to him. She won’t dismiss for now, but she will release DiPalma on his own recognizance as there is no sense in leaving him in jail for a trial that may never happen. DiPalma grins. But Rubirosa comments that is great, he an his accomplice can go out for a beer and have a big laugh over this whole thing. Cutter wonders that may not be a bad idea.With the New York Ledger article titled “Blockbuster Bid for Carville Book" along with DiPalma's picture up on his computer screen, McCoy asks Cutter and Rubirosa if they saw what is on the internet, saying DiPalma just got a half million to write a book about Carville. When Rubirosa adds that his lawyer indicated it was a journalistic project but he is still 2.5 million short, Cutter reminds her of sales of paperbacks, movie rights and it could be as profitable as the blackmail. McCoy says that publishing it is perfectly legal, but threatening to publish it is a felony and it doesn’t seem to make sense but somehow it does. Cutter calls it coercion. McCoy nods and smiles, saying he’s glad they prosecuted for a reason.Meanwhile, DiPalma is back in his office, and he gets a phone call. A man asks if it feels good to be back, and DiPalma asks what does he think. The caller says he heard that congratulations are in order, and DiPalma says he graduated at the top of his class in Rikers. The caller says he just read about his book deal and is surprised he didn’t call him to share the good news. DiPalma says no one has called him, it is just publishing gossip. The caller mentions the half million dollars, and he wants $250K. DiPalma says there is no money it’s just a rumor. Later, Rubirosa and Cutter are listing to the recording of that call, and the caller goes on to ask if DiPalma is hiding it the Caymans like he was going to hide the money from Carville. DiPalma says there is nothing to hide, he swears. Rubirosa stops the recording, saying it worked, the phony book deal story. Cutter says he thought it would get DiPalma and his friends something to talk about. Rubirosa says the police found that the caller is Derek Fanning who works on the web site, she met him and he said he wanted to go to architecture school. Cutter quips he guesses he is raising tuition money. Rubirosa adds there were two calls made after that one, Fanning kept asking for money and DiPalma kept saying there wasn’t any, and Fanning kept calling him a liar. Rubirosa gets a phone call, and says they will be right over. It was Van Buren, the police just found Megan’s laptop.At the NYPD Computer Case Squad, Van Buren tells Cutter and Rubirosa that it was dropped off in the lobby of Megan’s building with a note saying it had been found abandoned in a coffee shop. Megan’s address was on a sticker on the bottom. There was a video on it with what looks like DiPalma trying to kill Megan, and Van Buren says it could be rough sex. Megan did not die, not on camera Cutter asks for the date of the video and the computer tech it is the day of the murder, but it is not hard to fudge the date if you know what you are doing. Van Buren does not know who dropped off the computer as the note was unsigned and no prints. Rubirosa says if they arrest DiPalma for murder based on this video there is a providence issue. Van Buren says that is the least of it, adding that the ring on DiPalma's right hand would have left a mark and the ME found no matching marks on her neck. Rubirosa wonders if he took the ring off before he killed her, but Van Buren says if he is the one who did. The computer tech notices a reflection in the alarm clock and they realize someone else was in the room when the video was taken. Cutter says on its face the video is evidence that DiPalma is the murderer but it miraculously shows up right after DiPalma’s accomplice demands a quarter of a million dollars and DiPalma tells him he can’t pay. Rubirosa comments that the blackmailer was being blackmailed.Later, in Cutter’s conference room, they show Baron and DiPalma the video. Baron says it is no secret DiPalma was dating Megan, and Cutter says , “Dating? That’s what you call it? Baron says if they thought this made DiPalma a murderer he would already be under arrest. Cutter says they haven’t given up the thought and says he hope DiPalma brought his toothbrush. Baron says they must be something wrong with the video or the wouldn’t be here. Cutter says they’d like to hear what DiPalma says about all of it or it will become people’s exhibit #1 and his murder trial and they can discuss what’s wrong or right about it there. DiPalma admits that Derek Fanning made him do it, he shot it while he was with Megan, Fanning had a gun on them and stood at the side of the bed. Baron realizes that they knew someone was there and they knew the video was fishy. DiPalma said Fanning made him pretend he was strangling Megan or he would shoot him, adding Derek was crazy. He adds that when Megan came to him about Carville, he though it was a great story and he asked Derek for help with research. Derek broke into Sara’s apartment and he said they shouldn’t publish the story and they could make a lot of money. DiPalma went along and he dropped the stuff at Carville’s door. That night Megan figured it out and she would call Carville or call the police, Derek made him do that. When he left Megan was alive and Derek called her later and said he took care of her and they could go ahead with the blackmail. DiPalma adds that he freaked and he didn’t call Carville like he was supposed to. Derek said that if he didn’t get back to it he would send that video to the police. He did what Derek said. Cutter says he thinks that is the craziest story he ever heard, and Baron said then it must be true, right?At arraignment court, they are arraigning Derek for the murder in the second degree, and Derek pleads not guilty. Rubirosa says that Derek is accused of the murder of the source of the blackmail information when she threatened to call the police. The defense attorney says the people’s main witness is the former blackmail defendant and is hardly credible. Rubirosa disagrees, saying DiPalma was as shocked as anybody at the brutal and cold blooded nature of the murder. The judge says his credibility is for a jury to decide and he sets bail at $3 million, commenting “why break precedent.”Rubirosa, Cutter, Baron and DiPalma are in Cutter’s office, Cutter saying the analysis of the video will lend some support. Rubirosa adds they also found Derek’s gun and fingerprints on Sara’s hard drive, and in Megan’s apartment, Cutter comments that the jury will be skeptical about DiPalma and they will have to work to convince them to trust his testimony. But Baron says that DiPalma has decided not to appear as it is not in his best interest to testify. Cutter, stunned, says they can still prosecute DiPalma for the murder instead, but Baron says that ship has sailed as Rubirosa already told the judge that Fanning is the killer and it would be easy to raise reasonable doubt if they try DiPalma. Cutter asks if DiPalma is afraid Fanning will be acquitted and come after him or is he holding something over his head, and DiPalma says he doesn’t think if he publicly swears he was blackmailing is the best possible career move, plus he could get sued or the Feds could come after him. Rubirosa suggest immunity and subpoena him and if he then refuses to testify they can charge him with contempt. He says contempt he can handle, and Cutter says not to worry, he already has theirs, and he opens the door for them to leave.McCoy latter comments that it’s blackmail and murder and everybody walks, suggesting they should go into another line of work, dry cleaning. Rubirosa suggests they could charge them together for both crimes, and McCoy responds that they will both stay silent and they will be pushing two rocks up two hills. He asks about the blackmail victim, but she still will not get involved as there is too much that she doesn’t want people to see. Cutter says this blackmail thing really works, and McCoy wonders if they should try it.Later, Vanessa Carville has arrived at the DA’s office, and says she could not let this go to trial . He says that is what he wanted to talk to her about, and leads her into the conference room where Cutter, Rubirosa, Baron and DiPalma are waiting. She asks if this is some kind of shock therapy to change her mind. Cutter asks her to remember how she felt when she was being blackmailed. She says it was awful but doesn’t want innocent friend to be hurt. McCoy says she is sorry, but they are going to charge her with criminal sale of a controlled substance for the ½ vicodin pill she gave Megan. She says he gave it to her, she didn’t sell it, but Rubirosa says the legal definition of sell means to sell, exchange, or give, and the law still applies and so does the penalty. Carville doesn’t believe it, and Cutter adds that the charge won’t help her in a divorce or in a fight over child custody. She calls them sons of bitches, glaring at McCoy, saying that they are no better than DiPalma is. She agrees to testify, saying sarcastically, :Sure, I can’t wait” DiPalma gets worried, asking if she still can do this. Barons says yes the case hasn’t been dismissed, but says he doesn’t think she ever will, asking that is not the plan, is it? McCoy says now that they have Carville’s cooperation, DiPalma is looking at 10 years for blackmail. Baron says if he changes his mind about testify against Fanning, he might let that slide. Carville gets a look of realization on her face as Cutter says they could probably work something out; if he nails Fanning for the murder, and takes a plea he can do two years. Carville comments that they screwed with her to screw with him, and McCoy nods yes, calling it a “bank shot.” She tells him, You’re still a son of a bitch” and McCoy smiles. Cutter asks if they have a deal, and DiPalma looks to Baron and Baron says deal.Later, Rubirosa says to Cutter that it was a blackmail daisy chain, they definitely didn't teach that in law school. Cutter says, “Turn about, it was only fair.” Rubirosa comments, “So that’s the new game plan. We do what they do. Next time we try a murderer, we’ll kill somebody “ Cutter says, “I don’t know, we’ll have to ask the boss.” They walk off as we see the open door to McCoy’s office with the light still on, as we fade to black.	149344
1994	Neighbours	T			Australia. Soap opera began airing in March 1985 and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2005.	Newspaper Staff. Erinsborough News. Editor-Publisher Paul James Robinson (Stefan Dennis) was born in 1963, the son of an engineer and his wife.  He bought the Erinsborough News from Brad Jordan and became determined to find the real arsonist that murdered Marco and badly hurt Kirsten. Paul Robinson 1985-1992, 1993, 2004-Lived: 22, 26, 30 Ramsay Street, Karl's apartmentParents: Jim and Anne RobinsonMarital Status: Terry Inglis (1985-1986; divorced), Gail Lewis (1987-1989; divorced), Christina Alessi (1991-?; divorced), Lyn Scully (2006; annulled)Siblings: Julie, Scott, Glen, Jill and LucyChildren: Amy, Cameron, Lucinda [Elle], Robert and AndrewFamily Tree: RobinsonOccupation: Engineering Student, Air Steward, Manager of The Daniels Corporation, Manager/Owner/Employee of Lassiter's Hotel, Manager/Owner of The Robinson Corporation, Owner of The Helen Daniels Trust, Teacher at Erinsborough High School, Owner/Editor of the Erinsborough NewsThe eldest son of Jim and Anne Robinson, Paul Robinson was born in Erinsborough in 1963. Paul started out in life a quiet academic and was destined to follow his father into the family engineering firm. However, he shocked his father when he dropped out of university half way through his engineering degree to become an airline steward. It was here Paul met and fell in love with his supervisor, Gail Lewis. The relationship never fully developed and after Paul quit the airline, he proposed to plumber's assistant Terry Inglis after a whirlwind romance. They married at a ceremony held at Paul's family home, No. 26 Ramsay Street. Jim gave the couple No. 30, two doors down, as a wedding present. But domestic bliss wasn't to last - it turned out that Terry had a criminal past and had murdered her ex. After Paul realised Terry had murdered, he confronted her about his suspicions, and she shot him in the shoulder, before doing a runner. However, the police had closed in on her just as she was about to flee and Terry was arrested, before committing suicide in jail some time later.Paul's experiences with Terry left him bitter and hard headed - just the qualities that led to his aunt Rosemary Daniels appointing him manager of the Australian end of her company, The Daniels Corporation. Here, Paul found his niche in life - the world of corporate takeovers, lucrative business deals and the financial rewards of running a world-renowned hotel complex. He quickly built up The Daniels Corporation and employed Zoe Davis as his secretary but when she began a relationship with his father - 20 years Zoe's senior - Paul took a dislike to her and made her life at work hell for a while. As it turned out, Paul was actually in love with Zoe. But even though she had finished with Jim, Paul never got the chance to tell Zoe how he felt as she left Erinsborough with an old flame.Paul replaced Zoe with brash Madge Ramsay but he soon realised she would be better suited running the hotel bar, The Waterhole. Her replacement was single mother Susan Cole who Paul fell for in a big way. Susan was lodging with zany Clive Gibbons at No. 22 Ramsay Street, and Clive was madly in love with Susan. But she only saw Clive as a friend, and was much more attracted to the excitement Paul had to offer. They started seeing each other for a few months, but after they split up, Susan got engaged to Clive. Despite this, Susan and Paul kissed one day at the office, making Susan realise that she could never be happy with Clive. When Clive found out that Susan still cared for Paul, a wedge was driven between the two men that lasted for years to come. Susan, meanwhile, was so ashamed for having hurt Clive that she left Erinsborough. Paul was now faced with the task of finding a secretary once again - and this time found the reliable and dependable Jane Harris, who served him faithfully for a number of years.Gail Lewis walked back into his life when she successfully applied for the job of assistant manager at The Daniels Corporation. At first, their relationship was platonic although both were clearly in love with the other. Fate stepped in when Paul had the chance of an extremely lucrative business deal with Japanese businessman Mr. Udugawa. But Mr. Udugawa, it seemed, only liked to do his business with happily married men so Paul asked Gail to marry him for the sake of the business deal. Gail agreed and the couple married, much to the bewilderment of their families who had no idea Paul and Gail were even dating. The couple moved into No. 22 Ramsay Street but slept in separate bedrooms. Their secret was nearly exposed when Cousin Hilary stayed with the two and caught them sleeping in separate bedrooms. But they managed to explain it away as a row and Hilary was none the wiser. Eventually, the two realised how much they loved each other, and Paul stopped Gail from leaving Erinsborough to take a job with Rosemary in New York so that they could give their marriage a real chance. A short time after, they renewed their wedding vows at Jim's wedding to Beverly Marshall, as a sign of their true commitment to each other.The marriage hit a rocky patch when Nina Williams, an old flame of Paul's from his airline days arrived in Erinsborough with her three year old daughter, Amy, who she revealed was Paul's daughter. Gail, who desperately wanted children but was unable to conceive, thought that Amy would make Paul lose interest in considering adoption or IVF treatment. But instead Paul proved he was strongly committed to the idea of having children with Gail, and he and Gail underwent an intensive IVF treatment programme hoping to conceive. Eventually, Gail and Paul were thrilled to learn that Gail was pregnant with triplets. But throughout the pregnancy, Paul became more and more interested in his work, especially since he had recently bought the corporation and complex himself, renaming it The Robinson Corporation. The final blow to the Robinsons' marriage came with the death of Gail's beloved father, Rob, in a car accident. Gail blamed Paul for Rob's death because he had been involved in a heated argument with Rob at the Robinson house, which led to Rob storming off in his car in the middle of a bad storm. And when Paul went into the office after Rob's funeral, Gail decided that the marriage was over. Unable to cope with life in Erinsborough anymore, a heavily pregnant Gail packed her bags and left Paul for a new life in Tasmania where she gave birth to two sons, Cameron and Robert and a daughter, Lucinda. Paul flew to Tasmania on the birth of the children and agreed to divorce Gail and let her marry the new man in her life. Paul returned to Erinsborough distraught at the idea of another man raising his kids, although he and Gail had parted friends and she agreed to let him see the triplets whenever he liked.Paul coped with the end of his second marriage by burying himself in his work. He moved into a suite at Lassiter's and leased out No. 22 to his new assistant Caroline Alessi and her twin sister, Christina, who ended up falling in love with him. But Paul was oblivious to her feelings and instead sought comfort in the arms of his new secretary, Melanie Pearson, when the two had a one-night stand.After a business trip to Argentina, Paul met and fell in love with the scheming Isabella Lopez. He brought Isabella back to Erinsborough and Chrissie took an instant dislike to her, seeing through the cunning money grabber immediately. She eventually proved to Paul that Isabella was only after his money and he sent Isabella packing. Chrissie now thought the way was clear for her and Paul to get together but instead Paul vowed he was staying away from women in future. Despite this, love finally blossomed for the two and they eventually became engaged. After a short engagement they married and quickly decided to try for a child. When Chrissie got pregnant, Paul was thrilled and vowed to be a proper father to this child. Paul was so determined that everything about this child should be perfect, he planned the route that he and Chrissie would take when she goes into labour weeks before the baby was due. But the one thing Paul didn't allow for was running out of petrol, and his car came to a dead stop in a deserted country road as Chrissie was in the throes of labour. After spotting an ice-cream van nearby, Paul persuaded the driver to take him and Christina to the hospital in it, and not long after getting safely to the hospital, Chrissie gave birth to a baby boy, Andrew.Paul's new found joy was disturbed, however, when his business empire looked set to collapse around him. Glen Donnelly - the half-brother who Paul had refused to accept ever since he showed up in Erinsborough a few months prior - had fallen off the hotel roof at Lassiter's, while he was fixing a banner as a favour for Paul and ended up being paralysed from the waist down. With The Robinson Corporation already facing financial difficulties, Paul - determined to avoid legal action over the fall - was forced to sell a small share in the corporation to Madge for $20,000 and offered the money to his estranged half-brother to help him with his future. But when Paul attempted to have Glen sign a document wavering his rights to sue The Robinson Corporation, a furious Glen lashed out at Paul and threatened to sue him for a massive settlement. Paul tried everything he could to prevent Glen going ahead with his case, even trying to bribe his cousin Todd - who had witnessed Glen's fall - to testify against Glen in court. Glen finally accepted a substantial out-of-court settlement and left Erinsborough. Paul turned to a shady moneylender in an attempt to save his business and when it looked like he would lose everything, he even contemplated suicide. Chrissie found herself alone with the baby after the stress of recent events caused Paul to suffer a nervous breakdown, resulting in him going away to recuperate.He returned to Erinsborough with daughter Amy in tow and a feud developed between Amy and stepmother Christina. They eventually made up after Amy was knocked down and she soon returned to live with her mother. Paul and Christina's marriage looked destined to end when Paul and sister-in-law Caroline realised they had feelings for each other and slept together. Caroline was so upset with what she had done to her twin sister that she left Erinsborough hastily for Milan. Chrissie was puzzled by her sister's sudden departure and was shocked to find out the truth by overhearing Paul discuss the affair with his grandmother, Helen. Christina promptly threw Paul out in disgust and started divorce proceedings. But after months of persuasion and the death of Paul's cousin Todd, they realised they should make a fresh start. Paul was offered the chance to manage a luxury hotel resort in Hawaii and after renewing their wedding vows, Paul and Chrissie left Erinsborough with Andrew for a new life.Paul returned a year later to visit Helen but had to make a hasty exit when he got his brother-in-law Philip Martin involved in a fraud scandal. Paul called Chrissie in Hawaii and told her to fly to Brazil with Andrew and wait for him there. Paul then signed a letter of confession to the police taking full responsibility and bid his beloved Helen a tearful goodbye before fleeing Ramsay Street for Brazil.After four years avoiding the inevitable, Paul returned to Australia to face the music. He spent the next three years in jail, his marriage to Christina breaking down in the process, as well as the death of his beloved grandmother Helen occuring. The whole experience made him even more embittered than ever before, and when he was released, he worked hard at rebuilding his former empire.Paul finally returned to his home town of Erinsborough in late 2004, just as the Lassiter's complex was burning to the ground. Having evidently returned just in the nick of time, Paul kicked started the task of rebuilding the shattered community by paying for the use of the town hall as a make shift Coffee Shop and Pub while the complex was rebuilt. And he reclaimed Lassiter's has his own when he beat off the American firm Affirmacon to buy the complex. That company's representative in Australia, Lee Thomas, recognised Paul's good head for business and offered him a job with Affirmacon. However, Paul kept this detail from the rest of Erinsborough as he was keen to project an image of favouring the local, smaller businesses rather than corporate giants from overseas.Although many people had come and gone in the years since Paul had last lived in Erinsborough, Harold Bishop was still around, as was his son David, who Paul immediately took under his wing. David had recently decided to run for local council and Paul, recognising that it would be useful to have his very own puppet when it came to matters of local politics, became David's pseudo-campaign manager. Indeed, it was Paul who actually secured David a seat on the council by calling in a favour in the eleventh hour just as it looked like David was about to lose. However, Paul came to be frustrated by a lot of the decisions David made in terms of town planning and quickly began to regret his choice of puppet.Meanwhile, David's wife Liljana had caught Paul's eye the moment he met her, especially since he felt she shared a lot of the same qualities as Helen. It was the latter point which led Paul to offer Liljana the job of managing The Helen Daniels Trust, a philanthropic organisation that he had set up in memory of his gran to provide grants to needy causes. The role meant that Liljana and Paul would be spending a lot of time together, although it hurt Paul that she seemed totally devoted to David and he could only admire her from afar.Another local lady also attracted Paul's attention upon his return, and she was much more reciprocating to his advances. Izzy Hoyland had been running the Coffee Shop with Harold, but decided to invest in the new pub with her brother Max after the fire at Lassiter's. However, Izzy couldn't raise enough capital to invest and so, Paul stepped in and offered her a loan. Paul also came onto Izzy on a number of occasions, but she initially resisted due to the fact that she was already involved with local GP Karl Kennedy. To add to the confusion, Karl had an in-built disdain for Paul, on account of his good friendship with Philip and hearing all about Paul's framing of Phil for fraud. However, Karl's mistrust of Paul only added to the thrill of the chase for Paul and it made him more determined to bed Izzy. The opportunity finally arose when Karl went to Sydney for a medical conference and Izzy finally succumbed to Paul's advances. Izzy was then racked with guilt over her betrayal of Karl, but Paul managed to persuade him to continue seeing him after making it clear that he was in no way interested in breaking up her and Karl and merely wanted a bit of fun.Paul's feelings for Liljana, meanwhile, continued to grow and he started pulling out all the stops to ruin her marriage to David. When David was supposed to be with Lil at daughter Serena's school debate, Paul instead turned up, knowing that David was otherwise engaged, playing golf. And Paul also encouraged David to invest in a business scheme with an associate, despite Liljana's objections. Of course, Liljana remained unaware that Paul was the driving force behind David's actions and actually turned to Paul for support and advice on more than one occasion.Paul's involvement with Affirmacon, meanwhile, led to him getting embroiled in all sorts of shady deals and practices when the development giants revealed they wanted to level Ramsay Street and the surrounding suburb in order to build a giant shopping complex. Paul was set the task of manipulating the residents into selling their properties, but realising what a hard task it would be, he hatched an elaborate plan to take the decision out of their hands. Unbeknown to the council, Paul was behind an environmental report that had come to their attention which predicted a very bleak future for the neighbourhood. The report revealed that a rapidly rising water level in Erinsborough West meant that within ten years, the entire area would be under water. Although many of the residents accepted the terrible findings, Harold was adamant that a second investigation be done, and hired an independent environmental scientist to do some tests on the area. When Paul got wind of this, he dug up some dirt on the scientists past and blackmailed him into supporting the findings of the original report. With both reports therefore predicting a grim future for the suburb, Paul's plan was starting to pay off and Affirmacon moved into position to get their hands on the area by offering to buy the houses from the locals. Paul's support for the company became clear at a local meeting to decide whether or not the offers should be accepted, and local opinion started to turn against him as he appeared to be putting profit before the good of the community. Paul initially rebuffed such claims, insisting that Erinsborough was where he grew up, but the likes of Harold and his granddaughter Sky Mangel – who had been suspicious of Paul from the moment he returned – remained sceptical.David's eyes were open to Paul's manipulation, too, when Paul had him framed for defrauding The Helen Daniels Foundation. But Paul strenuously denied the allegations David was levelling against him, and things worked out in his favour when Liljana actually started to believe that David was guilty. The case was thrown out of court on a technicality, but the damage had been done to the Bishops' marriage by that stage and Lil left David. It wasn't long before Paul professed his love for Liljana and once she gave in to the feelings she had been harbouring for him for some time, they began seeing each other, initially in secret in order to spare the feelings of David and Serena.Meanwhile, Paul's affair with Izzy threatened to expose him to all sorts of problems when she realised that he had burned down Lassiter's. However, Paul knew that Izzy had lied to Karl about the true parentage of the child she had miscarried, and so, neither could afford to have their secrets known. Although their affair ended, the pair remained linked by the secrets they each held, and as Paul's conscience started to increasingly take precedence over his dirty dealings, Izzy was on hand whenever he needed a shoulder to cry on. Indeed, Paul had begun to regret his recent behaviour as his love for Liljana grew and brought out the old Paul that had had been buried deep down underneath layers of bitterness and regret, and he gradually started to do what he could to scupper Affirmacon's plans for Erinsborough. Affirmacon took note of his softening attitude, and sent one of their heavies, Tony Corbett, to Erinsborough to keep an eye on Paul. Paul initially tried to persuade Tony that there were other areas that the company could build their shopping mall in, but Tony insisted that the plans were in motion now and Paul had to continue with what he had signed up for.Polluting the local wetlands was therefore next on Paul's list, and he initially enlisted Dylan, the 18-year-old son of the rowdy Timmins family who were now living in Paul's old family home on Ramsay Street, to pour toxic chemicals into the river. Dylan had become Paul's protégé in the months following his return, after Paul recognised the same ambitious qualities in Dylan that he had when he was younger. But Paul's conscience once again got the better of him when he overheard Dylan defending Paul to Sky, and he opted to carry out the task himself. Once the deed was done, Paul realised too late that as well as polluting the water, he had also killed and poisoned the many different types of wildlife that inhabited the land and he was racked with guilt. And the guilt got a whole lot worse when Dylan – an animal lover – raced down to the wetlands to try and save some of the animals and ended up getting poisoned by the toxic waste himself. Being exposed to the waste left him with a higher chance of contracting cancer in later life, and Paul was horrified at being responsible for inflicting Dylan with the worry.Dylan's predicament was the final straw for Paul. While publicly he had to continue with his support for Affirmacon and back their offer to purchase the ruined wetlands, privately he plotted to put a stop to their plans once and for all. He gave Dylan a key card to some Affirmacon offices in the city, and he and Sky managed to obtain some documents from the office that proved the company was corrupt. But they were unable to do anything with the documents because they had been obtained illegally. Paul suggested they pass the documents onto the press, who wouldn't have to reveal their sources, but problems arose when Sky, still determined to prove that Paul was up to no good, followed him around with a camera to try and catch him out. But what she caught him doing was something she hadn't expected – kissing Liljana. And while Sky was deciding what to do about the photographs, she had failed to notice that Serena had taken the camera to a protest the locals were holding outside the Affirmacon offices. It was there that David and Serena finally realised that Paul and Lil had been seeing each other when they saw the pictures themselves, and the vilification of Paul in the community increased tenfold as it transpired that on top of everything else, he had evidently broken up the Bishops once happy marriage too.Lil opted to get away from Erinsborough for a few days in the wake of the fall-out from the revelations, while David was so furious with Paul that he attempted to run him over outside Lassiter's. Desperate to sort things out with Lil, Paul tracked her down to a country retreat and found that she was unsure of whether or not she could trust him anymore as it became more and more likely that Paul had been in Affirmacon's pocket all along. But Paul promised Lil that he was in love with her regardless of what else was going on in his life, and he managed to persuade her to go to Sydney with him for a few months to get away from everything. However, Affirmacon were on his case, and while Lil was getting ready to leave, Tony Corbett and some more heavies showed up on Ramsay Street and took Paul away to the bush to beat him up. Fearing for his life, Paul desperately tried to escape them but was chased to the edge of a cliff, before falling off it – 80 feet below.Once he had regained consciousness, Paul was in complete agony, with a particularly substantial amount of pain in his right leg. Having mustered up the strength to drag himself along the ground, Paul finally found himself at some wetlands. But by that stage, he was hallucinating heavily and seeing visions of Liljana, and ended up in the water. Rapidly losing control of himself, Paul started to drown in the water - until Dylan and Sky appeared, having found his abandoned car nearby, and pulled him to safety. Sky revived Paul by giving him CPR, and he was rushed to hospital.But Paul was by no means out of the woods. He required emergency surgery as a result of the internal injuries he had received from the fall, and his state of mind was not helped by the abscence of Liljana from his bedside. Lil had found out all about Paul's shady dealings after he had gone missing, and was disgusted by his behaviour. However, with Paul about to undergo a major operation to save his life, Liljana put on a brave face and went to see him to reassure him she loved him. But worse was to come. Paul had suffered a very bad break to his right leg as a result of the fall, and it had become badly infected, meaning the leg would have to be amputated if he wanted to survive. Paul refused to even entertain the suggestion that he lose his leg, and despite repeated attempts from Karl and Harold to talk him round, Paul resigned himself to death rather than live his life without one of his legs. However, Dylan was not prepared to stand by and let the man he idolised give up after everything he had been through, and as Paul began to fade away, Dylan forged Paul's signature on the consent form to allow the surgery take place.When Paul was brought back from theatre and came round, he was horrified to discover that the amputation had taken place. He lashed out at everyone around him, even Liljana, and upon realising that Dylan had been the one who consented to the operation, Paul rejected him completely and directed abusive insults at him. But Dylan kept coming back to visit Paul, determined that he would eventually see sense. He was joined by Harold, Karl, Susan and even Sky in trying hard to persuade Paul to begin physiotherapy and embrace the second chance he had been given. Paul finally conceded that Dylan had acted in his interests and started to spend time with him, and even agreed to let Dylan bring him to Lassiter's for a drink one afternoon. But when Dylan left him alone outside the pub for a second, Paul became frantic as he became aware of the fact that the people around the complex that he had been in complete control of where now looking at him with pity.Again striving for a way out of his misery, Paul saw another opportunity to end things once and for all when David - who had just signed up as a volunteer with the Salvation Army - had to bring him out for some fresh air one afternoon. Paul relentlessly taunted David about how much Lil loved him and how passionate their relationship had been and suceeded in pushing David to the edge just at the right moment. Once they reached the top of a steep hill, Paul told David he now had the chance to erase him out of the Bishop family's lives forever by simply letting go of the wheelchair. David had been so enraged by the comments Paul had made that in a moment of madness, he let go and Paul went hurtling down the hill headed straight for a busy freeway. But at the last second, Paul realised that he didn't want to die at all and lept from the chair just in time. The incident led Paul to re-evaluate his attitude to life and his new circumstances, and he began by begging Liljana for one final chance. But she told him she could never trust him or love him again and there was no future for them.Paul's spirits were lifted hugely when Lucy returned to Erinsborough, although he was less pleased to see Rosemary, who he hadn't seen since he tried to take over her company several years back. Lucy and Rosemary had come back to Australia to attend a screening of a special documentary Annalise Hartman had made about Ramsay Street, but Rosemary also used the trip as a chance to offer to buy Lassiter's back from Paul. Paul initially refused to consider his aunt's offer, but after Lucy brought Paul to Lassiter's for a drink, he had a change of heart. It was while in The Scarlet Bar that Paul came face to face with someone else he had wronged – Philip, who was also back in town for the documentary. Finally seeing Paul in the flesh for the first time since he had framed him, Phil had to be held back by Lou Carpenter and Doug Willis, while Paul also had to contend with a verbal assault from Serena. The altercations made Paul give up on the idea of staying in Erinsborough and he decided to accept Rosemary's offer. But Lucy wasn't convinced that her brother had made the right decision, and put pressure on Paul to start facing up to his responsibilities and stop running away. Lucy made Paul realise that it was time for him to make a proper home for himself in Erinsborough once more, and encouraged him to move back into No.22 – which he had bought back after his initial return to the neighbourhood - and retain Lassiter's. And Lucy also succeeded in helping Paul face the biggest hurdle – wearing his prosthetic leg for the first time and start adapting to his new circumstances.There was shock on the faces of the residents of Ramsay Street when Paul showed up on crutches and interrupted the barbecue that had been arranged as a pre-cursor to the documentary to announce that he was moving back into the street. Although Rosemary was disappointed to learn that Paul wouldn't be selling Lassiter's after all, she was happy to see him fight back once again and urged him to truly reform and start giving something back to their home town. Paul started trying to re-establish himself as part of the community by joining all the residents to view Annalise's documentary down at The Scarlet Bar, which was a true trip down memory lane as a host of former friends and family appeared on screen to reminisce about Ramsay Street – including Gail, who revealed that Paul may just have been the love of her life. After the documentary, Lucy agreed to stay on for a few more weeks to help Paul upon his release from hospital, and his return to Ramsay Street.But Paul's reintegration into Ramsay Street wasn't going to be easy. With the Bishops next door, for starters, he wasn't about to get an enthusiastic welcome from his neighbours. Lou had also been renting No.22, and was forced to put his anger at Paul's recent behaviour behind him, in order to maintain the status quo in the household. But within days, Lou realised that he couldn't keep living with Paul, especially when he discovered that Paul had had an affair with Izzy some months back and Paul threatened to throw Lou out if he told anyone. Lou opted to leave immediately, rather than wait to be thrown out anyway, but he was so angered by Paul that he told half of Ramsay Street about the secret affair between Paul and Izzy. That evening, Paul and Lucy arrived home to find No.22 had been trashed with a warning for Paul to get out of town spray painted on the living room wall. Of course, there were a number of potential culprits, but Paul was quite surprised when Liljana admitted she had been the vandal, such was her anger towards Paul upon hearing he had been sleeping with Izzy around the same time he had been courting her. Paul took Lil's actions to mean she was still in love with him, but Lil insisted that she was reunited and happy with David once again.Paul found himself attracting the attention of the police when Izzy went missing and her car was found abandoned in the bush, with blood stains on the driver's seat. Since Paul had been the last person to see her alive, as reported to the police by the bar staff at The Scarlet Bar, Paul was asked down to the police station to answer some questions about his relations with Izzy. To add to his troubles, Izzy's sleazy lawyer, Steve Chisholm, told Paul that if his client didn't turn up alive and well soon, he would have to open a box she had given him containing evidence of Paul's past crimes. Paul decided to take matters into his own hands and headed off to find Izzy himself, eventually tracking her down to a health farm in the bush. Izzy's life had fallen apart in recent months, due to Karl finding out that he was not the father of the baby she had miscarried, and she had nothing to return to Erinsborough for. But Paul recognised a kindred spirit in Izzy, and since she had been ostracised by the entire community too, he persuaded her to come back and live with him at No.22, where they could face the neighbours together. Izzy accepted Paul's offer, and her move into Ramsay Street caused quite a stir, particularly as she and Paul wickedly flaunted their arrangement by throwing a huge party. But the pair had some quick thinking to do when Steve Chisholm threatened to hand the box of secrets Izzy had on Paul over to the police, unless he was handsomely rewarded. Izzy hatched a plan to break into Steve's house to reclaim the box, and Paul consulted Dylan on how best to override the complicated alarm system Steve had on his house. Luckily, Paul and Izzy succeeded in their mission, and burnt the evidence once and for all.As Izzy settled into No.22, Paul became increasingly concerned by her erratic behaviour. She was often moody and tired, and was flirting with everyone from Dylan to Paul himself. Paul eventually stumbled across the root of Izzy's problem when he found pills in her handbag and realised that she had become addicted to anti-depressants. Paul confronted Izzy about her addiction, which she strenuously denied and Izzy packed her bags to leave. But she had a change of heart when Paul admitted that he had begun to fall in love with her and wanted to help her through her ordeal. Izzy was touched that someone truly cared for her, and she agreed to stay and make a go of things with Paul. It took some time for Paul, however, to allow their relationship to become physical once again, as he had lost confidence in his body since losing his leg. But Izzy assured Paul that she found him attractive regardless, and she helped him put it out of his mind and reignite their sexual relationship.Paul and Izzy's new found domestic bliss wasn’t to last for long, however, as Paul's estranged daughter Lucinda arrived in Erinsborough. Paul was thrilled to see Lucinda for the first time in years, and was mesmerised at the attractive young lady she had grown into. Desperate to make up for all the lost years, Paul invited Lucinda, or Elle as she was now known, to stay on at No.22 with him and Izzy, and he gave her a trainee position at the hotel. However, Elle wasn’t overly keen on Izzy and within hours of her moving in, the battle lines were drawn. Elle was desperate for her father's undivided attention, particularly after missing out on so much time with him growing up, and she set about trying to undermine Izzy at every opportunity. After discovering that Izzy had been recovering from an addiction to pills, Elle orchestrated an elaborate ruse whereby she manipulated situations and planted pills all over the house to suggest to Paul that Izzy was hooked once again. While Elle’s campaign initially worked, Izzy eventually became suspicious and managed to expose Elle to a furious Paul. But Paul felt so guilty about not being there enough for his daughter in the past that he agreed to put the incident behind them, and start afresh. Even Izzy agreed to start again, and Paul, Izzy and Elle went on to become an unlikely family unit, but one that actually worked pretty well.With the 20th anniversary of the opening of Lassiter's Hotel approaching, Paul asked both Dylan and Elle to come up with proposals for a suitable event to mark the milestone. Although a battle to impress Paul waged between the two, few could argue with Dylan's suggestion to have a 1920s themed joy flight to Tasmania and Paul promptly picked his protégé's idea. Paul also saw the flight as a chance to mend some fences with a lot of his neighbours and friends, and as the plane set off, Paul was in jubilant form. However, a bomb had been planted in one of the engines and just as the plane was over the Bass Straits, it went off, sending the plane hurtling towards the sea. While Paul survived relatively unscathed, Izzy and Elle were initially nowhere to be found. They turned up safe and well within 24 hours, but Liljana, David and Serena weren't so lucky. David's body was found a few days later, while Lil and Serena's were never found. Paul was devastated by what had happened, and blamed himself for the death and destruction he had caused – particularly after Izzy revealed she had found a note in their seats moments before the plane crashed telling her to think about her life and everything she had done. Further evidence that the bomb had been directed against him was found when a second note arrived at No.22 telling Paul he had been lucky to escape. And as if the note hadn't sent enough of a chill down his spine, the paper it had been written on had been poisoned. Paul and Izzy were rushed to hospital where they were in a critical condition for a number of hours.After they pulled through, Paul became obsessed with protecting himself and his family from any more harm. He had security cameras installed at No.22, hired a security guard and started working from home rather than the hotel. As the police conducted their investigations, Tony Corbett emerged as the prime suspect and there was relief all around when he was found dead a few weeks later. Safe in the knowledge that the person who had tried to kill him and his family was out of the picture, Paul threw a huge Christmas party for the residents of Ramsay Street at Lassiter's in an attempt to make amends and cheer everyone up after the dramatic period they had all been through. But one resident wasn't in the mood for forgiveness and festivities. Harold had become a broken man having lost his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the plane crash, and when he found a letter David had written shortly before his death in which he blamed Paul for ruining his life and expressed a hope that someone would put an end to his evil some day, something in Harold snapped. He made his way over to No.22, crept quietly in as Paul was chatting on the phone to Cameron and with a rope, strangled Paul. Having left Paul unconscious on the living room floor, Harold retreated back to No.24 while Izzy came across Paul’s body on the ground and called for an ambulance. Paul was rushed to hospital where he recovered, but once he was out, he feared that the person who was trying to kill him hadn’t been Tony Corbett at all, and the threat to him and his family was still very much alive.Paul fell back into a sense of paranoia and insecurity in the wake of the latest threat to his life, and Izzy and Elle struggled to help him back to normality. Elle's boyfriend Ned Parker even moved in temporarily to provide an extra sense of security in the house but Paul had become so paranoid that at one point, he suspected Ned of being the one who was out to get him and sent him packing. The truth emerged, however, after Harold spent some time alone in Tasmania where he searched his soul and came to his senses. He confessed all to Paul upon his return, and Paul initially reacted with complete shock. He couldn't believe that the whiter than white, pillar of the community Harold, who he had known for so many years, could ever be capable of such a thing. Paul's shock quickly turned to rage and he threatened Harold with the police, much to the delight of Izzy, who had suspected Harold of being the culprit for some time. But Paul began to have second thoughts when he realised that a man like Harold wouldn't try to kill someone for no reason, and he began to look at himself as the real reason behind Harold's behaviour. Paul concluded that it was his actions and his dodgy dealings that had caused the plane to be blown up and for Harold to lose his family. Having decided not to press charges, Paul forgave Harold for what had happened and they agreed to put the whole sorry mess behind them.But Izzy had other ideas. She was furious with Harold for what he had done, and for the fact that he had gotten away with everything, and she put pressure on Paul to get revenge on him in some way. With the restaurant at Lassiter's losing a lot of business to Harold and Lou's General Store, Izzy suggested Paul re-launch it as a café to rival Harold and Lou's trade. Paul instantly went for the idea, as it not only provided him with a way to pay Harold back for his behaviour, but also naming it Lucinda's and offering the co-managing job to Elle, would ensure she stuck around in Erinsborough instead of moving to Sydney with Ned as she had recently planned to.As the café war got underway, things turned nasty when Paul stole Harold and Lou's butcher and Lou retaliated by obtaining an events licence so they could sell alcohol to uni students during orientation week. A low point in the feud for Harold came when Paul beat him to donating prizes and catering for the hospital fundraiser, and a furious Harold confronted Paul about his treacherous ways, even pointing out how disgusted Helen would be by his behaviour if she were alive – a comment that did little to temper Paul's behaviour. As it became apparent that Harold and Lou couldn't compete with Lucinda's for long with Paul undercutting them at every opportunity, they eventually found themselves unable to pay their rent. As landlord, Paul had the power to evict them from the premises and gleefully took the store over himself, installing Elle and Dylan there to run that business too. But Lou managed to win back the store from Paul by getting an old contact at the council to con Paul into thinking the premises would have to be demolished – leading Paul to quickly sell the lease back to Lou.By that stage, Paul had his mind on other matters. Desperate to see Ned out of Erinsborough – and Elle's life – Paul and Izzy schemed to force him out of town. They arranged for a theatre director to offer the wannabe musical star an audition in Sydney, but Ned wouldn’t leave without Izzy, who he had fallen in love with and –unbeknownst to Paul – slept with. In typical Izzy fashion, she concocted a whole host of stories to discourage Ned from sticking around, eventually claiming that Paul had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. She pleaded with Ned to put his career first and go to Sydney, but he refused and a further complication presented itself when a security guard at Lassiter’s tried to blackmail Izzy with a CCTV tape of her and Ned having sex in her office. Max finally persuaded his sister to own up to Paul and when she did, Paul was stunned at her betrayal. But after Izzy explained that the only reason she had got involved with him was to keep him away from Elle, Paul realised she had been well intentioned and agreed to leave it in the past, despite repeated attempts by Ned to drive a wedge between the two.Paul was thrilled when another of the triplets arrived in Erinsborough, this time it was Cameron who wanted to get to know more of his estranged father. However, what Paul, Izzy and even his sister Elle didn't realise was that Cameron was actually the third Robinson triplet, Robert. Robert had never forgiven Paul for what he considered to be a complete abandonment of the family and as a result, was always more different and withdrawn from his siblings. What nobody knew was just how disturbed Robert had become and how he had begun an elaborate series of events aimed at extracting revenge on Paul - including planting the bomb on the Lassiter's joy flight and attempting to poison Paul and Izzy. His next move was to cause a car accident involving Cameron which put him in a coma, allowing Robert to assume his more normal and likeable twins' identity while letting everyone else think that Robert had gone travelling in Europe. Upon settling in Ramsay Street, the first person on Robert's hate list was Dylan, who he realised had become like a son to Paul. Having caused a rift between Paul and Dylan, Robert turned his attentions to Izzy. As she babysat her baby nephew Charlie at No.22 one afternoon, Robert crept in and turned the gas on, causing Izzy to pass out and almost die. Lyn Scully, who had recently started working for Paul as his PA and was also Charlie's grandmother, came to their rescue when she called over just in the nick of time. Robert then adopted a new tack, by flirting with Izzy in the hope of exposing her to Paul as an unfaithful lover. Having recorded several conversations he had had with her on his mp3 player, Robert then edited them all together to make it sound like Izzy was coming on to him and when he played it to Elle, she convinced him he had to tell Paul.As soon as Paul heard the recording, he flipped out and threw Izzy out of No.22. Paul was particularly bruised by the apparent failure of his relationship with Izzy because he had made a serious effort not to lie to her, only for her to repay him with such deceit. He found a shoulder to cry on in the form of Lyn, who seemed to be looking at Paul as more than her boss and was delighted when Paul told her in turn that he saw her as more than employee. They became even closer when Paul spotted a baby utility belt on Lyn's daughter Steph, that she had adapted from an old tool belt and they embarked on a new business venture to mass market the product. But when Paul hooked up with Letitia, one of the manufacturers, and Lyn expressed her dismay, he told her in no uncertain terms to stay out of his business.Meanwhile, Robert was on the verge of being exposed as Izzy, determined to win Paul back, broke into No.22 to get her hands on the mp3 player and eventually managed to piece the recordings back together to prove her innocence. Having presented Paul with the truth, Paul and Izzy quickly worked out that Robert had been behind so much of the drama and upset in recent months – and when Paul remembered that Robert had been behaving strangely earlier that day around Elle's car, he realised he must have been tinkering with it in order to cause her harm. Paul phoned Elle and got her to escape just before the bomb Robert had planted in it had gone off. A shaken Paul called the police but, of course, at that stage, everyone still thought it was Cameron who was behind all the physical and emotional carnage that had overcome Erinsborough. Robert, meanwhile, had gone to visit Cameron at the hospice he had admitted him to and was stunned to find the bed empty. Cameron had woken from his coma earlier that day after a visit from Robert where he had confessed all before going off to plant the bomb in Elle's car. Hiding behind the curtains in the room, Cameron jumped out and knocked Robert unconscious when he returned, and changing into his brother’s clothes, he headed for help. But his timing was awful, as just as Cameron got to Ramsay Street, the police had arrived and arrested him. And upon regaining consciousness back at the hospice, Robert slipped into the bed previously occupied by his brother and pretended to be in the coma that Cameron had spent the last two months in.The realisation that his son had caused such harm and was filled with so much hatred towards him hit Paul badly. And as confusion began to overshadow proceedings – Elle had started to suspect, rightly, that it had actually been Robert living in their midst all this time and Cameron had now somehow ended up innocently in the frame – Paul focused his attention on the comatose Robert and had him transferred to Erinsborough Hospital. Paul was also deeply touched by the support he received from Harold, particularly when he was faced with the heartbreaking task of telling Harold that it had been one of his own sons who had planted the bomb on the plane that had wiped out his family. Paul also apologised to Izzy for ever doubting her, and Izzy delighted him by telling him, for the first time, that she loved him and moved back into No.22.When a stunned Gail heard about what had happened, she quickly made her way back to Erinsborough and came face to face with Paul for the first time in over ten years at the bedside of Robert. Straight away the old feelings between the pair resurfaced – with Gail angrily accusing Paul of ruining their childrens' lives by putting the almighty dollar first as always before calming down afterwards and having a coffee with him. Gail then headed to the police station to speak to Cameron, and afterwards, was sure something was amiss. Paul insisted on Gail staying with him at their old marital home although she came into conflict straight away with Izzy, who accused Gail of being a bad mother for producing such an evil son. Paul managed to assure Gail that he didn't see it that way and the pair caught up on old times when they were finally left alone at No.22.Once Robert had 'awoken' from his coma and was released from hospital, the Robinsons were all reunited under one roof, with the exception of Cameron who was languishing in police custody for crimes he didn’t commit. Robert was disgusted that Gail and Paul were getting on so well, and told Gail that he was only staying there for her. But Gail urged Robert to mend some fences with his father and get to know him better. Meanwhile, Paul and Gail were getting to know each other better all over again. After telling Paul she wanted to visit the graves of Helen and Jim while she was in town, Paul took Gail by surprise when he expressed a desire for them to visit Rob's grave too and he finally apologised for walking out on her father's funeral to go back to the office all those years ago. Touched by the sentiment, Gail got caught up in the moment and kissed Paul, although the re-igniting of their old chemistry was short-lived as Robert saw the embrace and interrupted them. But Paul and Gail were delighted when Robert suggested he and Paul go away on a camping trip together for a few days.Something continued to nag at Gail, though, as Paul and Robert prepared to leave for their trip. Before going camping, Gail and Robert visited Cameron in prison who went crazy when Robert mentioned he was going away with Paul and warned Gail that Paul's life would be in danger. Gail's unease increased when Robert cryptically told her as he left for the trip that anything he had ever done was for her. The final proof that Robert was actually the maniac in the family came when Katya Kinski, who had been dating 'Cameron' arrived at No.22 insisting that it had actually been Robert she had been involved with because she had just bumped into him at the pub and had a flashback to a previous brush with him. Fearing for Paul's safety, Gail phoned Robert and her worst fears were realised when Robert was distant as he spoke to her and told her Paul was too busy to come to the phone. This prompted Gail, Elle and Izzy to follow them to the bush in pursuit of Paul. But Robert had already drugged Paul and trapped him in an old mineshaft, before exposing himself as the mastermind behind all the recent crimes when Paul woke up. Robert then left Paul in the shaft and collapsed the entrance, leaving his father behind to be buried alive.When Gail, Izzy and Elle came across Robert at the camping site and questioned him about Paul's whereabouts, he became agitated, threw a shovel at them and fled – leaving the women with no idea where Paul was. As emergency services were brought in to help search the area, Gail came across an old photo of her and Paul lying on the ground which Robert had thrown at Paul before leaving him in the shaft. Paul had managed to poke the picture through a tiny hole in the shaft and when Gail found it, she cried out for Paul and was relieved to hear him calling back at her from underground. Once Paul was finally rescued, he was brought back to Erinsborough Hospital where a delighted Gail showed signs of becoming increasingly close to him. Izzy warned her off Paul, but Gail was harbouring such strong feelings for him that she couldn't help herself and when she told Paul about Izzy's warning, Paul told Gail that they would always share something special and he wasn't prepared to throw it all away due to a tantrum from Izzy. Izzy became so irked by the couple's bond that she made a catty, throwaway suggestion that they get married again – an idea that Paul seized on as it would be just the thing to bring Robert out of hiding.Before long, plans were afoot for what would be Paul and Gail's third wedding ceremony, even though this one was purely designed as a ruse to catch Robert. A newspaper article was written about the nuptials which was seen by Robert and he made his way back to Erinsborough on the day to disrupt proceedings. Meanwhile, Paul and Gail put so much effort into the wedding that it looked and felt so real they were quickly caught up in the emotion of it all. Gail was particularly touched when Paul broke away from the prepared vows and spoke from the heart about how blessed he was to have found her again. The ceremony was interrupted, however, when an impatient Paul began calling out for Robert to show himself – an act which finally prompted Robert to shoot at his father from the bushes he had been hiding in. However, the police had predicted such a move and Paul had been wearing a bullet proof vest.With Robert in prison, Cameron released and the drama of recent times behind them, the Robinsons tried to start again as a family, but Paul was behaving in a strange way and almost seemed to enjoy the battle for his affections that was raging between Gail and Izzy, not to mention the ever-increasing attentions of Lyn. Events came to a head when the family went for dinner and Cameron hit it off with the beautiful Lilly DeRouge. After dinner, Paul excused himself to attend a business meeting but Gail and Izzy became suspicious when Lyn called over to No.22 knowing nothing about any such meeting. Gail and Izzy went down to Lassiter's were they were shocked to find Paul in bed with Lilly and Gail decided that whatever she thought she and Paul could have together, there was no chance of reconciliation after all. The next day, Gail returned to Tasmania, leaving Elle and Cameron behind to continue getting to know their father better and urging Paul to seek some professional help before it was too late.But Paul was on a downward slope as far as his morals were concerned. He began flirting with women all over town and rejected pleas from Max to be less public about his behaviour out of deference to Izzy. He persuaded Elle to pretend she had a fatal disease in order to retain the love of Dylan, who had been torn between her and Sky for months. He attempted to blackmail Carmella Cammeniti, who had recently joined a nunnery and become 'Sister Mary Catherine', into sleeping with him. And when Paul discovered that the baby belt design infringed a patent that was lodged years ago and he stood to lose everything he had invested in the venture, he set Lyn up for the fall by promoting her to Managing Director of New Projects at Lassiter's with a 100% pay-rise. Although she initially wanted to have the contract checked out by a lawyer, Lyn decided to trust Paul and took the job. What Lyn didn’t realise was that Paul had included in the deal, a total signing over of the whole baby belt deal to her and within weeks, she had been served with a writ for copyright infringement. When Lyn confronted Paul about his betrayal, he stunned her by kissing her, and turned on by her threats to use all the dirt she had on him from his business deals to bring him down, Paul embarked on a torrid romance with her, seeing her for the first time as more than a divorced mum of five. Blaming the baby belt idea on Izzy, who had moved out after realising Paul could no longer commit to one woman, Paul vowed to fight the infringement case with Lyn and he impressed her further by lavishing attention on her and her youngest son, Oscar. Izzy threw a brief spanner in the works by telling Lyn that Paul had killed Gus Cleary in the Lassiter's fire that had coincided with Paul's return to the area but Paul managed to persuade Lyn that Izzy was simply being malicious and had been overcome with jealousy. But Paul was privately furious with Izzy, and threatened her with finding herself in a similar situation to Gus if she raised the subject again.As Paul's descent into darkness continued, an unexpected blow came when word reached Paul that Robert had escaped from prison and was on the loose. The whole of Ramsay Street was on extra alert in anticipation of his return and this proved to be fatally problematic for Cameron, as he was mistaken for Robert by Max, when he was seen chasing Katya. In fact, he was simply catching up with her after she had left her bag behind but thinking it was Robert out to cause more havoc, Max was caught up in a moment of terror and knocked him down. As he was taken to hospital, Paul and Elle were told that he was in a critical condition but it was only when Elle went to phone Cameron to let him know what had happened and heard a phone ringing in the bag containing Robert's belongings that they realised Cameron had been the one who was run down. As Cameron's condition deteriorated, word filtered through that Robert had never escaped and had actually just been hiding from the prison guards and Paul became even more angry at the chain of events. But Cameron made Paul promise to come good if he pulled through, something which Paul worked on straight away by starting counselling to get to the bottom of his bad behaviour. However, Cameron then took a turn for the worst and died, leaving Paul even more embittered than ever before.After burying Cameron at home in Tasmania, Paul returned to Erinsborough hell bent on getting revenge on Max for causing his son’s death. He was tipped over the edge when he witnessed Max hugging his son Boyd and decided, since Max was only being charged with manslaughter, he would dish out his own form of punishment. After leaving a note for Elle apologising for what he was about to do, Paul followed Max down to Lassiter’s and pulled a gun on him. Luckily, Max managed to talk Paul out of doing anything foolish by pointing out killing him wouldn’t make his grief any easier to deal with and a broken Paul dropped his gun just as Lyn, who had found a note Paul left for Elle apologising for what he was about to do, arrived to confiscate the gun. Paul decided to act on the advice Max had offered him by refusing to pursue the manslaughter charges and allow Max get on with his life.The gun incident had led Lyn to re-evaluate her relationship with Paul, however, and she told him she didn’t want to see him anymore. But after her legal bills from the baby belt fiasco forced her to sell her home, Paul offered her and Oscar a room at No 22, on a strictly platonic basis. Lyn had no alternative but to accept, and felt a lot better about the arrangement when Izzy, on her way out of Erinsborough for good, revealed to her that she had lied about Paul murdering Gus. However, Paul had persuaded Izzy to tell Lyn this in return for him keeping quiet about the fact that she was carrying Karl Kennedy’s baby. As Lyn’s attitude towards Paul softened, he surprised her by whisking her and Oscar off to New York to visit her daughters Flick and Michelle.When Paul stayed on in America a bit longer than Lyn, she had convinced herself that Paul wining and dining beautiful young women in the Big Apple, particularly after Flick told her she had seen Paul with a mysterious blonde at one point. But Paul shocked Lyn by returning with an engagement ring and asking her to be the fourth Mrs Robinson. Lyn happily accepted, although they initially kept the news low-key. This was a difficult task to achieve, though, as the engagement ring Paul had bought Lyn was a little big for her finger and Lyn’s refusal to have it re-sized led to it constantly dropping off her finger as she went around town. The final straw came when it came off as she played ball with Oscar at Lassiter’s and it ended up in the lake. Paul hired a team of scuba divers to scour the water in the hope of finding it, but Lyn cleverly called them off at the last minute and explained to Paul that the lake was where she had disposed of his gun. Paul then took it upon himself to wade into the water and having finally found it, Lyn agreed to have it refitted.Paul was determined to make this marriage work and threw himself into neighbourly behaviour by having dinner with Lyn’s best friend Susan and Karl, who she had recently reunited with. He even decided to sell half of Lassiter’s, retaining a 49% share for himself, in order to cut back on his workload. In fact, Paul was so confident Lyn would be around for the long haul that he made plans to change his will to include her. However, as he worked on the details with the new solicitor at the Lassiter’s Complex, Rosetta Cammeniti, he found himself drawn to her. Paul was desperate to avoid the feelings he had for her, but matters were made worse by the fact that Rosetta had moved into No.30 right across the road from him. In the hope of focusing on his marriage to Lyn, Paul suggested they bring the wedding forward to just before Christmas and Lyn happily agreed. But Lyn unwittingly brought Paul and Rosetta closer when she offered her a business traineeship at the hotel. The sexual tension between Paul and Rosie came to a head when they were trapped in the hotel wine cellar together and got to discussing their past relationships. As Rosie revealed she was still a virgin and had put her professional life ahead of her private life, Paul could contain himself no longer and they shared a passionate kiss. The hotel staff found them before anything else could develop, and Paul pressed on with his plans to wed Lyn.As the wedding day arrived, Paul was plagued with thoughts and visions of Rosie, culminating with the very real vision of her passing the church in a car while Paul waited for his bride. Nevertheless, he went ahead with the ceremony and despite a brief pause as he made his vows to Lyn, the couple were declared man and wife. At the lavish reception that followed, Paul made a touching speech about how lucky he was to find his perfect woman at last. But the marriage was to be a short one, as Paul realised before the day was out that he couldn’t be trusted to be faithful and true to Lyn. A stunned Lyn was told by Paul in their honeymoon suite that he had kissed Rosetta and still had feelings for her, and would probably have feelings for lots of other women if they were to continue with their marriage. Devastated, Lyn had the marriage annulled and after going to the Maldives with Oscar on what would have been her and Paul’s honeymoon, she resettled in her hometown of Shelley Bay, unable to face Paul and Ramsay Street ever again.With Elle spending Christmas in Tasmania with Gail, Paul spent the holidays alone as he once again became public enemy number one in Erinsborough. When he passed by Rosie’s office at Lassiter’s on Christmas Day, he was surprised to see her at her desk and they shared a heart to heart over his disastrous marriage to Lyn and her disastrous flirtations with her housemate Frazer Yeats. After Rosie revealed that she had set herself a deadline of midnight that Christmas to lose her virginity, Paul offered to help her out while they still had time but before anything could happen, Frazer interrupted them with a bouquet of flowers for Rosie and a plea to give a relationship with him a chance. With Paul and Frazer now locked in a battle for Rosie’s affections, Rosie’s best friend Pepper Steiger proposed Rosie date each man for a week to work out which one suited her best. While Frazer begrudgingly agreed to go along with the plan, Paul took it as a challenge to prove himself and readily accepted it. Having wined and dined Rosie, Paul then set out to sabotage Rosie’s first date with Frazer at Lassiter’s restaurant by forcing the staff to be rude and inhospitable to the couple. But even having Frazer’s credit card cut didn’t detract from how well the pair were getting on and Paul was disgusted when she told him that the age difference between them was too great and she needed someone like Frazer to experience new things with. Paul then consoled himself by throwing himself into a period of no strings sex with Pepper, getting a kick out of the fact that she was Rosie’s best friend and confidante.Trouble loomed at Lassiter’s, meanwhile, when Loris Timmins, grandmother to the Timmins’ brood and Paul’s new partner in the hotel, signed her 49% share over to daughter-in-law Janelle and the Timmins kids. Paul was furious at the move, seeing the Timmins family as mere bogans who didn’t know the first thing about running a first rate hotel. He was further incensed by Elle’s support of them, as a result of her relationship with Dylan, and threw her out of No.22, leaving her to take refuge with at the Timmins house. The key to regaining some semblance of control over the company he had spent so long building up lay in the 2% that was owned by a mysterious, silent shareholder who only communicated at board meetings through instant messenger. Paul eventually discovered that ‘Mr 2%’ was actually The Scarlet Bar’s new bartender Will Griggs. Will was actually the son of old business acquaintances of Paul, the late hoteliers Clifford and Pamela Barnes, who had left their entire multi-million-dollar hotel chain to Will and his older brother Oliver. But with Will intent on living life as a normal, run of the mill bartender, he pleaded with Paul not to expose his true identity and Paul agreed in return for Will voting with him in all future board meetings.Determined to regain full control over his hotel empire, Paul decided he needed Elle’s support and set about ruining her relationship with Dylan. After setting Ned up to lose $25,000 in a rigged card game, Paul agreed to pay off his debts in return for Ned carrying out a number of tasks for him. Paul even sweetened the deal for Ned by putting him up in Karl Kennedy’s old flat, which Paul had recently bought and lavishly refurbished. Accompanying Elle, Dylan, and some other Ramsay Street lovebirds on a Valentine’s retreat in the countryside, Ned’s first act of treachery for Paul was to ensure Dylan fell into someone else’s bed. Ned was successful in getting him into bed with Carmella, although nothing actually happened between the two because he had drugged their drinks, but after Elle caught them the next morning, the damage was done and she went running back to Paul. With Elle back on side, Paul’s next targets were the Timmins’ themselves and he again used Ned to make life miserable for them. He had Ned rob their house, which they hadn’t insured, and mug Paul as he was taking the Lassiter’s takings to the bank, to make it look like a huge chunk of the company’s profit had been lost. Paul hoped that these actions, coupled with his announcing to the family at board meetings that the company was in serious financial trouble, would lead to them throwing the towel in and selling their shares.But Lassiter’s took a backseat to the Timmins family when youngest son Stingray died from an aneurysm after donating his bone marrow to his leukaemia stricken niece, Dylan’s baby daughter, Kerry. What Paul didn’t realise was that an enraged Dylan held him solely responsible for his younger brother’s death as Kerry had gotten the cancer from Dylan as a result of his exposure to the toxic waste Paul had dumped in the wetlands, and Stingray had died as a result of the operation to save the baby’s life. On a misson to make Paul pay, Dylan kidnapped him, taking him out to the bush where he played a dangerous game of cat and mouse with his former mentor. Dylan finally lured Paul to the same cliff where he had fallen and lost his leg, and pushed him off the edge. But as Paul was clinging on for his life, Dylan realised that he couldn’t leave him to die as he had enough grief to deal with and after helping Paul back up, he told him he was doing a good enough job of ruining his life by himself.Rather than change his ways after this latest eye opener, Paul simply became more and more vengeful and evil, and worst of all, had started to drag Elle down with him. Ever since Will’s brother Oliver had arrived in town, Paul was anxious to get on Oliver’s good side as he now owned Will’s 2% of Lassiter’s, and he realised the best way to get to him would be through a marriage to Elle. But Oliver had fallen for Carmella, and there was hardly any chance of Oliver giving Elle a second look. The only potential barrier to their happiness was Oliver’s unease at Carmella’s family, Erinsborough’s answer to the mafia. To seize on Oliver’s unhappiness with the Cammeniti way of doing things, Paul and Elle planted explosives on Carmella’s fruit van. Although they hadn’t meant to harm anyone and the bomb had been timed to go off when there was nobody in it, both Carmella and Oliver were almost killed when the explosives were a little late to detonate. Without batting an eyelid, Paul encouraged Elle to continue in their quest to win Oliver over and she used their country cabin as the perfect place to seduce Oliver when she loaned it to him after a quarrel with Carmella. The plan worked when Oliver finally succumbed and slept with Elle, much to the delight of Paul. But just as Paul’s scheme seemed to be paying off, Elle began to have second thoughts about all the deceit he had involved her in, and Elle realised that she was being used by Paul as merely another pawn in his game. Elle and Ned then opted to leave Erinsborough and get away from Paul, but Paul was adamant that she stay put, even hiding her passport so she couldn’t leave the country. Feeling sorry for Paul, Elle decided to stick around at the last minute, prompting Ned to reveal to her that Paul had arranged for him to break her and Dylan up. Disgusted at the lengths Paul had gone to to get what he wanted, Elle maintained her decision to stay, albeit with a much different purpose.Paul was thrilled when Elle arrived back apologising for contemplating leaving, and he agreed to let bygones be bygones. But what Paul didn’t know was that Elle had told Oliver everything about their plan to get their hands on the Barnes shares, and together, the pair had concocted their own plan to bring Paul down. They began by telling Paul they were engaged, and Paul was overjoyed at the prospect of amalgamating the Barnes wealth with his own. And to achieve Paul’s ultimate goal of regaining full control of Lassiter’s, Elle and Oliver convinced him that they had persuaded Janelle to sell her 49% to Oliver, which he would in turn sell back to Paul. Paul didn’t realise that Janelle was in on their scheme and so, never raised an eyebrow when Elle suggested he put the company in her name because Janelle was refusing to sell so long as Paul was involved in the hotel. Paul readily agreed to the ploy, and before the ink was even dry, he was celebrating with a cocktail party at the hotel restaurant. But he was stunned when Elle revealed that she wasn’t really engaged to Oliver but that they were now equal partners in Lassiter’s and she had taken everything away from him in order to save him from himself.Paul had Rosie scrutinise the contract he’d signed and was stunned to learn that it was incontestable and that he had signed over everything – Lassiter’s, the house, international investments, shares and even his everyday bank accounts. As he tried to return home, he found the locks had been changed and Elle had him arrested for trespassing after he crept in the back door. The only place Paul had to turn was the flat Ned had been using, and holed up there for days on end, Paul sunk into a state of despair. Bitter at Elle’s devious plot, despite it being ultimately well intentioned, Paul rejected her attempts at showing she still cared when she called over with food parcels and offered him a job at the hotel as an event co-ordinator. To add to his woes, Paul started to experience intense pain in his head and found it hard to understand what people were saying to him. It had been happening on and off for a while, but the stress of losing everything had amplified the sensations and he eventually sought medical help. He was shocked to be told that he was suffering from an acoustic neuroma, and required surgery to remove a hitherto undetected tumour that had been growing on his brain for several years. Rejecting his doctor’s advice, Paul ignored the diagnosis and resolved to carry on with his life as best he could.While still learning to deal with the news, Paul befriended a homeless teenager, known as Fox, when he tried to steal his lunch from him one day at Lassiter’s. Desperately in need of company, Paul found himself confiding in Fox and began to take onboard the advice Fox was giving him, particularly where Elle was concerned. Fox blamed Elle for all the suffering Paul had endured and persuaded him to break into No.22 and smash the house up. When Paul brought Fox to stay with him at the flat, Fox began to taunt Paul and refused to let him leave. Paul finally managed to escape and ran as far as the car park before collapsing as the noise in his head got louder and louder. He was taken to hospital where the doctors told him he must have the brain surgery or die. But Paul returned home in the hope of first making amends with Elle, only to again be met by Fox at the apartment, who was now making Paul believe Fox and Elle were working together to drive him insane. Paul started to fight with Fox, just as Elle arrived at the apartment and she was shocked to walk in and witness Paul fighting with thin air. Elle convinced Paul to go to the hospital with her, thinking he had had some kind of mental breakdown, but once there, Paul’s tumour was revealed to her and he was prepared for emergency surgery. Right up until he went under the knife, Paul was still being taunted by Fox, who was actually a figment of his imagination caused by the tumour.Paul lay in a coma for a week after the operation, with Elle maintaining a constant vigil. When Paul finally woke up, he had no idea who Elle was, and instead asked to see Jim and Helen. It quickly became clear that Paul had lost a large part of his memory during the surgery, and Elle was forced to break the devastating news to Paul that Jim and Helen had both died over ten years ago. Experiencing the grief all over again, Paul asked to be left alone to come to terms with what had happened. Things got worse when he realised Elle was his daughter, as he didn’t recall having any children and he put his foot in it with Harold when he visited and a clueless Paul started asking him how Madge was keeping. When Elle brought him in some photo albums in the hope of jogging his memory, Paul became preoccupied with the whereabouts of Gail when he saw a picture of her and he couldn’t accept that their marriage had broken up. As it became evident that the growth on his brain had been the cause of Paul’s descent into evil in recent years, and that the memory loss had made Paul forget all the bad things he had done to his family and friends, Elle opted to keep things that way in order to save Paul from any further upset and she persuaded everyone else to do the same.But Paul didn’t quite trust Elle, particularly when she claimed to have not been able to contact Gail, who Paul wanted to see. Pressing her for more information about what had happened in recent years, Elle finally told him about Cameron’s death and how Gail had broken off all contact with him since then. While Paul was sorry to hear he had lost a son, he couldn’t feel any remorse given that he had no recollection of the boy and was concerned instead about Gail. After Elle left her mobile phone behind in Paul’s hospital room by accident, he quickly found Gail’s number in Tasmania and left a message with her declaring his love for her and pleading with her to visit him. A highly sceptical Gail returned to Erinsborough, determined to have it out with Paul, believing his memory loss to be a convenient way for him to crawl back into people’s good books and rejecting Elle’s pleas to keep the truth from him. However, as soon as Gail came face to face with Paul again, she was shocked by how much he had reverted back to the man she had first fallen in love with and realised that the brain tumour must have been what caused his bad behaviour in recent years. Unable to bring herself to hurt him, Gail agreed to go along with Elle’s plan and spare Paul from knowing the truth about his past.But the truth came out when Paul overheard Gail and Elle discussing all the pain he had caused people, particularly in the months leading up to his operation, and the fact that Robert, his own son, had tried to kill him. On the eve of his discharge from the hospital, Gail sat Paul down and told him everything and he was stunned as he realised all the things that he had done to his family and friends, and by extension, what Robert had done. Upon returning to Ramsay Street, Paul broke down at a barbecue Elle had organised to celebrate his homecoming and he begged the forgiveness of his neighbours and friends for the hurt he had caused them.Adjusting to life as a father proved difficult for Paul, too, and he hurt Elle by asking her to refrain from calling him ‘Dad’ while he tried to get his head around things. When Gail pleaded with him to start working on his relationship with Elle, Paul complained that he couldn’t remember her, barely even liked her and had no feelings for her. Elle overheard the conversation and bitterly attacked Paul for neglecting her all her life and revealing how far she had gone before the operation to try and save him from self destruction. After things cooled down, Gail eventually persuaded Paul to patch things up with Elle and Paul agreed to give their father/daughter relationship a chance.As Paul settled back into some sort of normality on Ramsay Street, Gail found herself being drawn to him all over again. After spending a family night in in front of the box at No.22, Paul pleaded with Gail to give their marriage another shot. At first reluctant, Gail succumbed after Paul got her to concede that she still had deep feelings for him and they slept together. The next day, Paul whisked Gail and Elle off to the countryside for a family picnic but Gail gradually realised that they couldn’t simply wash away the past twenty years and live as if nothing had happened for any of them in between. Although still in love with Paul, Gail returned to Tasmania, explaining to him that she couldn’t bring herself to fully reunite with him as his wife, and left him heartbroken.With Gail gone, Paul put all his energy into redeveloping his relationship with Elle. It wasn't long before his paternal instincts began to kick in – when he caught Elle in a passionate embrace with Oliver, he was decidedly uncomfortable with the situation and when he expressed these feelings to Harold, Harold assured him that he was simply behaving like a father. Another person who Paul worked at patching things up with was Ned. Having bumped into him at the lake one afternoon and sensing that there was some bad blood between them, Paul extended the hand of friendship. Ned was initially sceptical of the new Paul but after a while he came around – particularly given he had just started a new chapter in his own life having been landed with Mickey, the eight-year-old son he never knew existed. Paul and Mickey also hit it off, which helped matters and when Paul realised that Ned was living with Mickey, and his pet dog Jake, in a hotel room at Lassiter's, he insisted on them moving in with him and Elle at No.22 for a while.Just as things were settling down for Paul, an unexpected bombshell was delivered to him when it emerged that he might be Oliver's father. Oliver had discovered he was adopted and had been on a quest to find his birth parents for some time, eventually finding out that his mother was Rebecca Napier – the daughter of the Barnes family's trusted manservant, Alan. After tracking her down and experiencing a few false starts, Oliver and Rebecca were finally getting to the point were it looked like they would be able to build a relationship. But then Rebecca paid Oliver a visit at No.22 and was stunned to see a photo of Paul on the sideboard. When Elle explained that the man in the photograph was her father, a horrified Rebecca fled and returned when only Paul was home. Paul was initially confused by her visit but gradually a memory came back to him when Rebecca explained that they had met on a flight back in Paul's air steward days and had shared a romantic weekend together. Although he now remembered Rebecca, Paul was still unsure of why she had appeared on his doorstep after so long but was shocked when she told him she was Oliver's mother and urged him to stop Elle and Oliver from seeing each other immediately. When Paul pressed her for a reason, Rebecca told him that he was Oliver's father.While Paul struggled to come to terms with the news, all concerned were also hugely disturbed by the fact that if Rebecca's revelation was proved to be true, Elle and Oliver – by now involved in a serious relationship - were half-siblings. Paul and Oliver agreed to have a DNA test, and Oliver tried to set Paul's mind at rest while they waited for the outcome by assuring him – falsely – that he and Elle hadn't been having sex. Meanwhile, Paul and Rebecca got to know each other better as they waited for the results and Paul pressed Rebecca to explain why she had never got in touch to tell him he had gotten her pregnant all those years ago. Rebecca explained that when she found out she was pregnant, she phoned Paul's house but the prickly Julie had taken the call and had been quite rude to her – leading Rebecca to assume Julie was Paul's wife rather than his sister and fearing she would break up a marriage, she gave up on Paul. Rebecca's long-held belief proved to be unfounded, however, when the DNA tests came back negative – much to the relief of Elle and Oliver, although Paul did tell Oliver that he would have been proud to have been his father.Rebecca went into meltdown upon discovering Paul wasn't Oliver's father and when she refused to tell Oliver who else could have fathered him, a furious Oliver cut all ties with her. However, Paul realised that there must have been a pretty big reason for Rebecca not to want to tell Oliver the truth and he met with her to try and get to the bottom of things. Rebecca admitted to Paul that if Oliver wasn't fathered by him, the only other person who it could have been was Richard Aaronow, the father of her other son, 17-year-old Declan. Paul was horrified when Rebecca went on to reveal that Richard was a violent and dangerous man who had pursued her relentlessly over the years, eventually raping her, which was what had resulted in Declan's conception. As a result, Rebecca had spent most of her life on the move, fearful of Richard catching up with her and Declan. Paul and Rebecca grew closer as he offered her his support, and Paul succeeded in getting Oliver to give Rebecca another chance. When Oliver pressed Rebecca once more to reveal who his father was, she invented the name Andrew Butler until Paul convinced her to level with Oliver once and for all and she broke the news to him about Richard Aaronow.When Elle – unaware of what a horrible man he was – tracked Richard down and told him about Oliver and Declan's whereabouts, Rebecca was furious when she found out and, terrified that he was going to arrive on her doorstep at any moment, made plans to leave town. But Paul stepped in and persuaded her it was time she stopped running, and invited her and Declan to move into No.22 where they would be surrounded by people and be safe. When Declan learnt the truth about what his father had done to Rebecca, he flipped out and lured Richard to a remote fishing spot under the pretence of getting to know him better. Paul, Oliver and Rebecca were forced to race after him when they saw a note he had left for them saying he had gone to sort Richard out. By the time they got to the river, Declan was about to be attacked by Richard and Paul and Oliver intervened and rescued him from his clutches in the nick of time. Paul brought Rebecca and Declan away to a cabin in the country to get away from it all and while there, Paul and Rebecca admitted that they both had feelings for each other and became a couple. Their new found happiness was interrupted by Richard, however, when he tracked them down to the country and set upon Rebecca while she was gathering wood alone in the bush. Although she escaped unhurt, the ordeal led Rebecca to decide to take a civil case against Richard – but a shocking surprise was in store when it emerged Richard was in end stage renal failure and only a kidney transplant from one of his sons could save him. Declan wanted to donate one of his so that Richard would live long enough to face his day in court but Rebecca wouldn't allow him and instead, Oliver stepped into the breach – extending Richard's life for the time being.Journalist Elizabeth “Libby” Grace  Kennedy-Fitzgerald (Kym Valentine, 1994-2004, 2005-cameo, 2007-). Libby is the second child of Karl and Susan Kennedy, and their only daughter. As a teenager, Libby was always bright and clever, and involved herself in her grandfather’s communist beliefs, much to the dislike of Karl. Libby always resented her father for moving the family to Erinsborough without even telling them. She quickly made friends with Brett Stark after he promptly helped Libby move furniture into their new house, which resulted in him putting the arm of a chair through the wall. Although Brett had feelings for Libby, he never acted upon them. Her first part time job was at Philip Martin’s (Ian Rawlings) news agency, which she pursued even after being threatened by a robber. Despite Karl warning her not to continue, she carried on working there until she was offered a part-time cadetship at the Erinsborough news. Libby [Elizabeth] Grace Kennedy-Fitzgerald 1994-2004, 2007-Lived: 22, 28, 32 Ramsay Street, Libby and Drew's flat, Libby and Darren's houseParents: Karl and Susan KennedyMarital Status: Drew Kirk (2001-2002; died), Daniel Fitzgerald (2009-)Siblings: Malcolm, Bill and HollyChildren: BenFamily Tree: KennedyOccupation: Student, Newsagency Assistant, Lou's Place Barmaid, Journalist, Grease Monkeys Waitress, New Voice Editor/Publisher, Carpenter's Mechanics Owner, Teacher at Erinsborough High SchoolThe only daughter of Karl and Susan Kennedy, Elizabeth Grace Kennedy was always wise beyond her years as a child, and by the time she reached adolescence, Libby was an intelligent, worldly wise young girl. Politically aware, Libby aligned herself with her grandfather's Communist beliefs, much to the dislike of Karl, and the closeness Libby shared with Grandpa Tom often caused contention for Karl since he had always had a difficult relationship with his father.Libby was appalled when her father suddenly announced in 1994 that he had bought a new house for the family in the suburban town of Erinsborough, and the family were moving out of the country. Neither Libby nor her brothers, Malcolm and Billy, were impressed with the idea of moving to the city and resented Karl for making the plans without even consulting them.However, it didn't take Libby long to settle into Erinsborough. She made a friend in studious Brett Stark on her first day in Ramsay Street, and the pair became soul mates. Although he valued Libby as a trusted friend, Brett also harboured feelings for her, but was scared to act upon them. Instead, he and Libby became embroiled in an elaborate scam to get Stonie Rebecchi elected school captain.After Mal barged into her bedroom one afternoon to borrow her walkman, Libby demanded some new house rules be brought into effect to protect her privacy. Susan told the boys they were to stay out of Libby's room unless she asked them in. But Billy was determined to get his own back on Libby for teasing him about his recent crush on Leanne 'Packo' Packington and so, sneaked into her room to get Libby's personal journal, in which she was writing a steamy novel. That evening at dinner, Billy embarrassed Libby by reading out passages from her journal, and landed her in trouble with Karl and Susan who were shocked at the steamy content of the writings. Libby's embarrassment was extended to the schoolyard when Mal brought the journal to school and read some of the steamy extracts to the other students. Libby called a family meeting where she demanded a lock be put on her door in the wake of the recent invasions of her privacy, but her request was turned down by Karl and Susan, who felt the punishment they had dished out to the boys for their behaviour was enough. Libby remained furious with Mal, however, and when Billy took some photographs of Mal flexing his muscles in the mirror, Libby had the film developed and put the pictures on display in the Coffee Shop and around the neighbourhood. The embarrassment Mal suffered as a result ended the privacy dispute once and for all - much to the delight of Karl and Susan.A part-time job at Philip Martin's newsagents in the Lassiter's Shopping Arcade was working out very well for Libby until her life was put in danger when she was held up by a robber one afternoon. Libby was forced to empty the cash register by the robber, but he refused to believe her when she told him there was hardly any money because Philip had just left beforehand to lodge the takings at the bank. As the robber became more aggressive and accused her of lying, Libby saved herself by using what she had learned at self defence class, and held him down until Philip got back from the bank and called the police. The incident left Karl convinced that the job was too dangerous for Libby to continue with, and he insisted she didn't work there again. Libby and Susan both opposed Karl's plan, and after pointing out to him that no matter where you are in life there's always a possibility of danger, Karl relented and agreed to let her continue working at the newsagents. Ultimately, Libby was to quit the newsagents anyway after landing a part-time cadetship at the Erinsborough News - her first step in her quest to become a journalist.When university graduate Luke Handley moved in next door to the Kennedys, Libby instantly got a crush on him. And Luke began to develop feelings for Libby, too, when he offered his services as a model to her in a photo-essay she was doing on the human body. When Karl came across some shots of what he thought were of Luke's bum, he suspected Libby of being involved with him and confronted her. But Libby explained to Karl that the shots in question where actually of Luke bending his arms, and Karl was forced to apologise to Libby for suspecting her of getting sexually involved with Luke. But unbeknown to Karl, Libby and Luke were becoming more and more attracted to each other, and they finally kissed. Libby was delighted by the development, and confessed to Brett that she was mad about Luke. She even told Susan and Karl about her feelings for Luke, in the hope that being honest would make them trust her. But Karl grounded Libby, and forbid her from seeing Luke. Luke, meanwhile, told Karl and Susan that he was as uncomfortable with the age difference as they were, and he insisted that he was only trying to let Libby down gently. Susan hatched a plan with Luke whereby he would shower Libby with love and attention in an attempt to make her lose interest in him. But the plan backfired when Libby realised her parents were only suddenly being so nice to Luke in order to put her off him. And Libby was gutted when Luke revealed to her that he had been involved in Karl and Susan's plan too, and he finally told her they could only ever be friends. Libby had a hard time dealing with Luke's admission, and refused to speak to him. But after she received a letter in the post from Luke in which he explained how badly he felt about the way things had worked out between them, and how deeply he cared for her, Libby accepted that he never meant to hurt her, and agreed to maintain their friendship.Libby impressed her bosses at the Erinsborough News when she began writing articles under the pseudonym Biddy Tuncliffe about the dramas her neighbours in Ramsay Street were currently going through - such as the relationship between Lucy Robinson and trainee priest Mark Gottlieb, and the romantic complications of Annalise Hartman. Brett warned Libby about the dangers involved in writing about the problems of people she knew, but Libby ignored his advice. It was only when Libby wrote a piece clearly based on Brett's (non-existent) love life that she learnt a lesson in journalistic integrity. Brett accused Libby of betraying their friendship and even though Libby insisted that she hadn't set out to portray him as the loser he appeared to be in the article, Brett refused to forgive her and became even angrier when he was teased at school over the story. Libby also had to incur the wrath of Annalise when Brett told her that it had been Libby who wrote the piece about her weeks before. Libby sought comfort from Susan as she tried to cope with the hurt she had caused her friends and neighbours, and she made one last attempt at healing the rift with Brett. Luckily for Libby, Brett had begun to receive tons of faxes and letters from girls interested in the loser in love that had appeared in the paper, and he gladly agreed to forgive her.Libby found romance over the internet after meeting surfer Sonny Hammond in a chat room and meeting him in the flesh a few weeks later. They started dating, but Libby was forced to evaluate her feelings about sex when Sonny began to put pressure on her to take their relationship further. Libby confided in Angie Rebecchi about her predicament, who enabled Libby to see that she just wasn't ready to lose her virginity yet, and shouldn't until she was absolutely sure she had found the right guy. However, Sonny piled the pressure on, booking a room for him and Libby at a guesthouse in Minerva for the weekend. Libby told Sonny she wasn't ready to go that far with him, and he accepted her decision. But the next day at the beach, Sonny started to get heavy with her when they found themselves alone in a secluded spot. Libby ended up fleeing the beach in panic, leaving Sonny feeling confused and uncomfortable with the situation. When Sonny showed up at the Kennedy house that night to find out what was wrong with Libby, he found her in the back yard in a subdued mood. Sonny persuaded a reluctant Libby to get into his van with him to talk about what had happened at the beach, but once they were inside, it became apparent that Libby didn't want to discuss the incident at all. But Sonny kept pushing and pushing and when Billy came out onto Ramsay Street, he noticed movement inside Sonny's van. After hearing Libby shouting, he ran over to see what was going on. Sonny was furious when Billy began banging on the windows of the van, and declaring that they couldn't get a moment alone to talk, Sonny drove off and brought Libby to his place. Billy alerted Karl and Susan to the situation, prompting Karl to hurriedly drive over to Sonny's. But just as Libby and Sonny were reaching an understanding about where each of them stood on the physical aspect of their relationship, Karl arrived and grabbed Sonny out of the van to defend his daughter. Sonny protested that there was nothing going on, and Libby tried to calm Karl down and assure him she was safe. But Karl refused to accept that Sonny had acted in a responsible manner, and drove Libby home. Libby was disgusted with Karl for dragging her away and interfering in her relationship and gave her father the cold shoulder over his actions. However, Libby showed that she was still nervous about bodily contact after Brett sneaked up behind her as a joke in the garden, and she was startled, turning around and lashing out at him, before breaking down in his arms and apologising.As a result of the incident with Brett, Libby confessed all her fears and doubts about sex to Susan, and she revealed that she thought there was something wrong with her for not wanting to have sex. But Susan assured her that she would know when the time was right and it obviously wasn't yet and obviously not with the right person. Libby felt a lot better after her talk with Susan, but was still faced with the prospect of dealing with the pressure from Sonny. Even though Sonny agreed to ease off, Libby needed time to evaluate whether she wanted to pursue the relationship or not, and she and Sonny took a break from each other. Libby eventually agreed to give things another go and was excited when Sonny brought her to a fancy restaurant for Valentine's night. But she was shocked when Sonny announced over the dinner that he actually didn't want to see Libby anymore because he was so insecure about how far he could go with her. A heartbroken Libby found a shoulder to cry on in the form of Brett, and Libby returned the favour for Brett a few weeks later after he split up with Judy Bergman, the older woman he had been seeing. Both Libby and Brett's relationship failures had largely been due to the fact that neither of them where ready for sex with their respective partners, and the duo managed to overcome their insecurities about losing their virginity once and for all by having sex with each other. Although they felt slightly awkward and uncomfortable the following morning, both Libby and Brett agreed that it had been the right thing to do, and it helped both of them move on with their lives. The incident confirmed the deep friendship Libby and Brett shared, and when Brett left to travel overseas soon after, he left his beloved pet gala, Dahl, in Libby's care.More problems occurred for Libby when a case of crossed wires led the Kennedy family to believe that Libby was pregnant. The misunderstanding began when Karl and Susan noticed Libby had been looking in the women's health section of the telephone directory, while Danni Stark suspected Libby was pregnant after Billy mentioned that she was 'due' soon. Danni had failed to realise that Billy meant Libby had been due home soon, and she wasted no time in spreading word of Libby's 'pregnancy' around the neighbourhood. When Mal and Danni offered Libby their full support, Libby mistook them to be referring to her attending the women's health clinic, and she was furious with them for being so nosey and interfering. Unbeknown to Libby, everyone thought she was up to a lot more than visiting the health clinic, and when Karl called a family meeting, Libby was totally stunned when she realised that her 'pregnancy' was on the agenda. Furious at them for prying into her personal business and angry that they would think she'd be careless enough to get pregnant, Libby put Karl and Susan out of their misery by revealing that she had actually been down to the women's clinic simply to discuss safe sex as part of her process of coming to terms with her growing sexuality, and then angrily requested they all stay out of her sex life in future.When Libby interviewed Rupert Sprod, the hunky captain of the school football team, as part of a video she was making about the school team, she was quickly smitten with him. Libby had previously never given Rupert a second thought, thinking of him as simply a jock and ladies man, but started to see him in a new light, after they realised they both shared an interest in photography. Libby was most impressed with Rupert when he confided in her about his dream of becoming a television sports presenter, proving to Libby that there was more depth to Rupert than she had thought. And Libby was thrilled when Rupert asked her to go to the school dance with him. The couple started dating, and enjoyed a blissful start to their relationship until school bitch Rachelle intervened and started trying to break Libby and Rupert up. Libby ignored Rachelle's early attempts to ruin their relationship by telling Libby that Rupert was messing about with loads of the girls from school. But Rachelle finally succeeded in causing trouble for the couple when she kissed Rupert at a party to celebrate the footy team's victory in the finals. Libby would never have known about the kiss if it wasn't for the fact that Toadie Rebecchi had taken photos of the party, and had snapped Rupert and Rachelle just as they were kissing. Libby was devastated when, despite Toadie's attempts at stopping her, she looked at the photos from the party and saw the shot of Rupert kissing Rachelle. Libby confronted Rupert about the photographs, and Rupert insisted that it was a one off thing and would never happen again. Libby accepted Rupert's explanation, but she was adamant that their relationship was over. Rupert pleaded with Libby to give him a second chance, and enlisted Toadie's help in talking Libby around. But just as Libby was starting to think about getting back with Rupert, Hannah Martin told her she had overheard Rupert blackmailing Toadie into working on changing Libby's mind, and Libby was furious. She decided to get her revenge on Rupert during the class to show the footy video she had been working on, and did so by editing in the Rupert/Rachelle photos with a commentary about how untrustworthy some footy players were. Although embarrassed by the stunt, Rupert still longed to get back together with Libby and again pleaded desperately with her to forgive him for what had happened. But Libby could never trust Rupert again, and resolved to put the relationship in the past.If her relationship with Rupert had caused Libby problems, it was nothing compared to the tumultuous times that followed as she embarked on her most serious relationship with bad boy turned good Darren Stark. The older brother of Brett, Darren had spent two years in prison for taking part in an armed robbery, and was the last person Karl wanted to see Libby become involved with. But Libby saw something special in Darren - he was a young man who was desperately trying to get back on the straight and narrow, and the rough edge about him made him even more appealing to Libby. However, Karl found him totally unsuitable for his daughter. Not only was Darren an ex-con, but he also hadn't finished school, and had come into Libby's life in the final months of Year 12, a time which Karl felt Libby shouldn't have time for a boyfriend. Karl's overbearing interference in their relationship took its toll on Libby and Darren, and they decided to secretly move out. They found a small flat to live in, and only Mal knew the location of it. Libby found it tough going, however, because her HSC was fast approaching, and studying in the noisy and cramped building proved extremely difficult. After being away from home long enough to demonstrate to Karl how serious they were about each other, Libby and Darren finally decided to move back to their families, and Karl gave the couple his blessing. Tragedy struck that same day, however, when Darren's mother, Cheryl, was knocked down and killed. Darren dealt with his mother's death very badly, and was slow to respond to Libby's support. He even became jealous of the bond between Libby and Brett, who had returned for the funeral. Eventually, Darren realised that he was being stupid for suspecting Libby and Brett of impropriety, and he apologised for the way he had been treating Libby.Libby was thrilled when after successfully completing her HSC, she started studying journalism at university. However, heartache was just around the corner when Darren cheated on Libby by having a brief affair with Mal's girlfriend, Catherine O'Brien. The betrayal by both their partners upset Libby and Mal greatly, and even when Darren proposed to Libby to prove his commitment to her, she couldn't trust him enough to put the affair with Catherine behind her. To take her mind off her failed relationship, Libby threw herself into a new part-time job helping out around the house of a young blind man, Rohan Kendrick. Libby found Rohan very disagreeable at first, but she soon got to the bottom of his behaviour when she discovered he had low confidence in himself as a result of his blindness. But Rohan proved himself by saving Libby's life one afternoon when they were walking in the bush, and Libby slipped off a rocky ledge. Rohan successfully went for help by himself, and saved Libby's life. Libby and Rohan began seeing each other after the ordeal, but Rohan realised that Libby wasn't yet over Darren, and ended the relationship.Just as Libby was rediscovering her feelings for Darren, she discovered he was leaving Erinsborough for Byron Bay. But Susan persuaded Libby to chase after Darren and tell him how she felt, prompting Libby to race down to the bus station to stop Darren from going. Although she was too late, Libby followed the bus until its first stop, where she then stunned Darren by confessing she was still in love with him and didn't want him to go. Darren was thrilled by Libby's confession, and opted to stay in Erinsborough after all. However, Darren cheated on Libby a second time when he kissed single mother Shannon Jones at the university ball. Libby was initially impressed with Darren's honesty when he came to her straight away and owned up to what he had done. But after a picture of the kiss appeared in the Erinsborough News, Libby realised that Darren had only told her about the kiss because he knew she would find out from the newspaper. Disgusted and betrayed by Darren, Libby ended the relationship. Darren left Erinsborough soon after, but spent one final evening with Libby when the two met at a motel as they both set out on their journeys (Libby was making her way to Grandpa Tom's farm). After they spent the night reminiscing about their relationship and looking forward to their futures, Libby and Darren parted as friends, finally bringing closure to their relationship.Mechanic Drew Kirk moved to Erinsborough from the country just as Darren was leaving town, and he immediately fell in love with Libby. Libby, however, only saw Drew as a good friend, and despite the fact that they spent all their time together, she never saw him in any other light. Drew was a well mannered, polite country boy, who was very old fashioned, and wanted to do everything the right way, so it was totally against his nature to make a move on Libby if she showed no signs of interest. Instead, Drew was content to sit watching the stars with Libby at night, and admire her from afar.Libby was devastated when she discovered that Karl had had an affair with his receptionist, Sarah Beaumont, and she rejected her father in disgust. Karl desperately tried to make things up to Libby, but it took her a long time to forgive him for betraying the family. Libby was also furious with Sarah after the affair was exposed, particularly since Sarah had confided in Libby about seeing a married man. A deep rift existed between the two girls from that point onwards, and was never fully healed. The nearest Libby ever came to forgiving Sarah was when she was forced to interview Sarah and her fiance Dr. Peter Hannay for the Erinsborough News. Libby had to interview the couple about the aid work Peter was involved with, and the couple's plans to work in that field in Holland. But just before the interview started, Sarah suggested she and Libby clear the air once and for all and get everything off their chests. Libby agreed, and after getting things out into the open, Libby managed to put her anger towards Sarah behind her at last.Libby remained oblivious to Drew's love for her, and devastated him when she started dating her uni lecturer, Mike Healy. Libby's relationship with Mike also upset Karl and Susan, who were uncomfortable with the age gap between the couple. Mike was also recently separated from his wife, Victoria, and had a young daughter, Sasha. But Libby ignored her family and friends' concerns, and kept seeing Mike, and she was thrilled when Mike moved into Ramsay Street, renting No. 32. However, Libby was cheated on yet again when Mike started seeing Victoria again behind Libby's back. It was Drew who initially broke the news to Libby, having spotted Mike and Victoria kissing one afternoon, and Libby refused to believe Drew. Libby's reaction hurt Drew so much that he made plans to leave Erinsborough, feeling there was nothing for him to stick around for anymore. But when Sasha told Libby that her mum was pregnant, Libby confronted Mike about the revelation, and he admitted that he had been sleeping with Victoria again, and the baby was his. On top of the anger she felt over Mike's betrayal, Libby was also furious with herself for the way she had treated Drew. Luckily, Libby managed to apologise to Drew before he left town, and she was thrilled when he agreed to stay.Soon after, Drew brought Libby to visit his family in his hometown of Oakey, in Queensland. Libby was immediately welcomed into the Kirk family by Drew's parents, Ron and Rose. Indeed, Libby impressed the whole of Oakey during her stay, and when she and Drew attended the local dance, they were inundated with compliments about what a lovely couple they made. On their return journey to Erinsborough, Libby and Drew discovered that Drew's kid brother, Dougal, had hid in the boot of the car in the hope of getting to the city with them. They decided to stop at a cabin for the night to get some sleep, but because Dougal was now with them, Libby and Drew were left sharing a room. To avoid any awkwardness, however, Drew insisted on sleeping in a chair and Libby took the bed.When Drew started seeing Shannon Jones, Libby couldn't hide her discomfort with the situation, and eventually told Drew about Shannon and Darren. However, Drew realised that the real reason Libby was so uncomfortable with him seeing Shannon was because she was jealous, and he decided to confess his love for Libby at last. However, Libby backed off straight away, not wanting to lose her friendship with Drew. Hoping to get over Libby's rejection, Drew started seeing Geri Hallett, Libby's arch rival from uni. Seeing Drew and Geri together made Libby finally realise that she was in love with Drew and she decided to go to London to stay with Mal for a few months in the hope of putting Drew out of her mind. But just before she left, Drew told her he didn't want her to go, and admitted that he didn't feel nearly as strongly for Geri as he did for Libby. Libby was thrilled, and at long last, she finally started seeing Drew.The strength of their commitment to each other was tested, however, when Libby decided she wanted to take a year out from uni to travel overseas. Drew was dead against the idea, and told Libby he had no interest in travelling. Libby, on the other hand, was determined to see the world, and arranged for Karl to give her a loan to buy airline tickets to Africa. But Drew was determined to keep Libby in Erinsborough, and decided to propose to her. He popped the question as the whole of Ramsay Street was seeing in the new year at the Millennium street party, but before Libby could answer, the Scully house went on fire with little Louise Carpenter trapped inside. Drew raced inside to save Lolly, and luckily, got out with only minor burns. While Drew recuperated in hospital, Libby decided that she couldn't marry him, but before she could break the news to him, Ron and Rose arrived down from Oakey and assumed Libby had accepted the proposal. The Kirks even organised a special lunch at Lou's Place to get to know the rest of the Kennedy family, but Libby eventually told Drew that she wasn't ready for marriage and turned his proposal down. Drew took the news quite well, vowing to wait until Libby was ready, and he was thrilled when Libby cancelled her travel plans in order to stay in Erinsborough with him.Arch-enemy Geri stirred up trouble for Libby when she began spreading rumours around about Drew having an affair with new arrival, Stephanie Scully. Libby and Stephanie had become good friends when Steph moved into Ramsay Street, and even though Geri had accurately recognised Steph's attraction towards Drew, she was way off the mark implying that Drew was interested in Stephanie. Anyone could see that Drew was totally devoted to Libby, and Libby proved how secure she was in her relationship by not taking any heed of Geri. Geri, meanwhile, pressed on with her attempts at hindering Drew and Libby's romance by reporting Libby's rejection of Drew's marriage proposal in her gossip column in the Erinsborough News. But Libby got her revenge on Geri by exposing Geri's practice of accepting bribes from local businesses in return for free plugs on her Uni FM radio show.When Drew's Auntie Minnie visited Erinsborough, she was determined to meet Libby and vet her out as a prospective member of the Kirk clan. But Libby had already made plans to go clubbing with Steph and Tess Bell on the night Minnie was in town, and she was forced to cancel her plans in order to have dinner with Drew and Minnie. But once the dinner got underway, Libby realised that she had made the right decision, because Drew had fast become the most important person in her life. Minnie was to prove an important person in the road to the altar for Libby and Drew, because when she organised for the couple to get a special photograph done for her, Drew proposed to Libby a second time in the middle of the photographer's studio. And this time, Libby felt the time was right and said 'yes'.As the engagement got underway, Libby was introduced to a Kirk family tradition when Minnie sent the Kirk family quilt down to her, and requested that Libby add a patch of her own to the quilt. Libby and Susan desperately tried to decide on a panel for the quilt, and encountered further pressure when Rose and Drew's Aunt Janet visited to see how it was coming along. Libby had accidentally spilt water over the quilt earlier that day, and had hung it out to dry. But just as Rose and Janet were arriving, Libby went out the back to take in the quilt only to discover it was gone. Libby began a frantic search for the quilt while Susan kept Rose and Janet busy, and she finally found it in the Scullys' backyard being torn apart by their Rotweiler, T-Rex. However, Janet and Rose comforted Libby when they discovered the truth by revealing that the quilt had encountered many spillages and tears over the years, and they tucked in to help her repair the damage.Meanwhile, the level of interference in the wedding plans Libby and Drew were getting from their relatives and friends prompted the couple to think about eloping. Their idea was given a further push when other problems arose, including Grandpa Tom's refusal to attend the wedding if they married in church and Drew's Aunt Shirley refusing to stay in a hotel. And after the band Libby had wanted to play at the reception broke up, they finally agreed to elope. But Libby and Drew began to reconsider their plans after realising just how much effort the rest of the family was putting into the wedding. Just as they were about to change their plans, however, Susan was furious to take a call from a hotel in Fiji confirming Libby's wedding package. Susan was devastated at the thought of her only daughter marrying without her family around her, but a compromise was reached whereby Drew and Libby would marry in Erinsborough in return for less suffocation from the relatives.Tragedy struck only weeks before the big day when Libby and Stephanie were involved in a horrific motorbike accident on the way home from a weekend camping trip where Libby has asked Steph to be her bridesmaid. While Steph escaped the accident with minor injuries, Libby was unconscious for days, and when she finally came round, the doctors told her family that she would have very little chance of ever carrying a baby to full term as a result of her injuries. When Karl and Susan broke the news to Libby, she was devastated, but put on a brave face. However, Libby stunned Drew by breaking off their engagement as a result of the news, thinking that he would never want to marry her if she couldn't give him any children. Despite her family and friends urging her to reconsider her decision, Libby refused to even see Drew when she came out of hospital and she broke his heart when she got Steph to give the engagement ring back to him.As the months passed, Libby grew more and more distant from Drew. After she returned from a stay at Grandpa Tom's farm, Drew's hopes of a reconciliation were raised when Libby asked him to come over and see her. But he faced more upset when Libby told him all she wanted from him was friendship. A date with Geoff, a colleague from the Erinsborough News, got off to a bad start when they went for drinks in the pub before dinner, and bumped into Drew. Libby quickly suggested that she and Geoff go straight over to the restaurant, but once they got outside, Libby realised she had made a terrible mistake and apologised to Geoff for agreeing to the date, before going home. Once home, Libby admitted to Susan that she was still in love with Drew. However, Drew had by that stage thought Libby was completely over him and made plans to leave Erinsborough and return home to Oakey. When news of Drew's plans to sell his garage and leave town reached Libby, she tried to pretend it didn't matter to her and even announced that she intended to resume her travelling plans and work in England for a while.But some stern words from Steph, who was secretly in love with Drew herself, prompted Libby to realise she was being a fool to let Drew walk out of her life. Libby stopped Drew from signing the contracts for the sale of the garage in the nick of time, and admitted to him that she was still in love with him and wanted him to stay. Drew was overjoyed with Libby's declaration of love for him and decided to stay in Erinsborough. Karl and Susan were thrilled when Libby and Drew arrived back at the house and announced they were back together, and Lou Carpenter threw an impromptu celebratory party for them down at the pub. Stephanie was taken aback when she walked in on the celebrations, but managed to put a brave face on throughout the night. The party continued back at the Kennedy house, but Steph left early, unable to take any more of the fuss. Libby followed her home, sensing that something had upset her, but Steph brushed it off as problems with her boss. When the party ended, Drew whisked Libby away to Tom's farm, and stopped to look at the stars with her on the way. Drew asked Libby to assure him she was with him for the long haul, and when she told him she was, he gave her engagement ring back - bringing to an end months of heartache and upset for the couple.As the wedding preparations got underway again, Steph shocked Libby by announcing she couldn't be her bridesmaid. Steph made up an excuse about wanting to tour Australia on her motorbike, but Libby was suspicious about the decision. After seeing how upset Libby was, Drew pleaded with Steph to reconsider her decision for Libby's sake and she reluctantly agreed. Although Libby was relieved by Steph's change of mind, she still detected that Steph was trying to distance herself from her, and finally decided to confront her about her suspicions. Drew, who had found out a few months before how Steph felt about him, tried to talk Libby out of confronting Steph, but was eventually forced to tell Libby the truth. Libby was stunned at the revelation that Steph was in love with Drew, and when she raised the issue with Steph, Steph assured Libby that she had nothing to worry about since it was clear to everyone that Drew was devoted to her alone. In light of the revelation, both girls agreed that it would be too awkward to continue with the plan for Steph to be bridesmaid, and Libby asked her cousin, Gail, instead.Libby received a substantial pay out from the Accident Compensation Board before the wedding, and decided to use the money to buy herself a brand new car. But Drew had been fixing up an old Volkswagen for Libby in the weeks preceding the pay-out and had planned to give it to her as a wedding present. And Drew's plan suffered a further setback when Libby saw the VW after stopping by the garage and - thinking the car belonged to a customer - remarked that she would never go for such an old car. Lou eventually told Libby that the car was meant for her as a surprise, and Libby felt awful for unwittingly insulting Drew. Libby was touched by Drew's idea the more she thought about it, and she happily accepted the VW instead of buying a flash car, and decided to put the compensation money aside for a deposit on a house.Karl excitedly prepared his father of the bride speech for the wedding as the big day approached, but Libby told him she didn't want any speeches, fearing that her father would embarrass her. But when Libby came across Karl's wedding speech in the rubbish bin, she was touched when she read the heartfelt words he had written. Libby apologised to Karl for not giving him a chance to show her his ideas and told him she would be honoured to have him make the speech at the wedding.The wedding plans suffered another setback when Gail called to say she couldn't be Libby's bridesmaid because her baby had to have some minor surgery the week of the wedding. Luckily, Tess and Dione Bliss plotted to heal the rift between Libby and Steph before the big day, and after the two girls made up, Libby was thrilled when Steph agreed to be her bridesmaid again. Final preparations for the big day followed, with Mal sending Libby a special videotaped message to make up for him not being able to get home from London for the wedding. Madge Bishop gave Libby a lace handkerchief from her own wedding day as something borrowed, and Libby was thrilled when Susan presented her with her mother's necklace as something old. Finally, on 21 February 2001, Libby and Drew were married, in a very touching, traditional Scottish wedding at St. Stephen's Church.Their honeymoon in Surfer's Paradise was almost ruined when Geri Hallett showed up, announcing she had been sent up by the Erinsborough News to cover their honeymoon for the wedding column Libby had been writing in the weeks proceeding the big day. Although the newlyweds initially attempted to avoid Geri, they eventually gave in, and grant her some time with them so that they could get on with their honeymoon in peace.Upon returning to Erinsborough, the couple stayed with Karl and Susan while they searched for a place to live. But Libby was less than impressed when Drew announced he had found a perfect flat for them close to Ramsay Street, and had already given the landlord the bond for fear of losing out on it. Although Libby tried desperately to like the flat, she admitted to Susan that she hated it. However, after thinking about the practical side of it and listening to Susan fondly remember her first flat with Karl and the happy memories it evoked, Libby decided to give the place a chance, and made the move into her first home with Drew.While Libby was in London for Mal's wedding, Drew found himself having to ward off the advances of Ronnie Anderson, a customer from the garage who had developed an obsession with him. Ronnie even managed to make Libby suspect her and Drew of having an affair on her return to Erinsborough. Libby's suspicions increased when she found a mysterious earring under the cushion on the living room sofa and lipstick in the bathroom cabinet. But after Ronnie showed up in a frenzied state on the Kirks' doorstep claiming that she and Drew were having a full blown affair and were madly in love with each other, Libby realised that Ronnie was making everything up. Libby started to investigate Ronnie's background, and discovered that she was actually a missing person called Pamela Scott. After contacting Ronnie's father, Libby and Drew learnt that Ronnie was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after losing her fiancee in a rock-climbing accident while on their honeymoon. Libby hatched a plan to reunite Ronnie with her father by having Drew phone Ronnie's mobile under the guise of wanting to meet with her at the garage. When a thrilled Ronnie showed up at the garage convinced that Drew had finally seen sense about their 'relationship' she came face to face with her father and broke down in tears, before agreeing to go home with him.Libby immediately fell in love with a stray puppy Drew found at the garage one day, and was determined to keep her. Unfortunately, the lease on their flat forbid them from keeping pets, and they were forced to put her in the dog pound. But Libby and Drew were devastated when they visited the puppy at the dog pound and were told she was going to be put down because she had a heart murmur and nobody would take her. Libby persuaded Drew to take the puppy home with them, and they agreed on calling her Audrey, after Audrey Hepburn, despite Drew preferring 'Muffin'. However, they still faced the problem of trying to keep Audrey's presence a secret from their landlord. A surprise inspection by the landlord threw Libby and Drew into panic one evening, and as Drew frantically cleaned up the flat to hide any clues that a dog was living there, Libby got into bed to hide Audrey under the covers. But Audrey started barking just as the landlord walked in, and Drew had to pretend that the noise was Libby coughing. Although he accepted Drew's explanation, he warned him that he would be keeping on the eye on the place for any signs of a dog. Luckily, Audrey was able to continue living at the flat without further interference.Libby received a huge shock when she suspected she was pregnant, and after a home pregnancy test showed up as positive, Drew urged Libby to see Dr. Lewin, her gynaecologist, straight away. But Libby was so excited at the idea of being pregnant, she put the risks it could pose to her health out of her mind, and held off on seeing Dr. Lewin, opting for the peace and quiet of Tom's farm instead. Susan and Karl suspected the kids of having marriage problems when they discovered Libby had suddenly gone to her grandfathers, but they were stunned when, after pressing Drew for an explanation, he told them Libby might be pregnant. Upon her return, Karl desperately tried to get Libby to see her doctor, and she eventually agreed. After the pregnancy was confirmed, Libby and Drew were devastated to be told that if Libby went ahead with the pregnancy, it would be potentially life threatening. Drew assumed that the next step would be for Libby to have an abortion, but he was shocked when Libby told him she wasn't going to have an abortion because she had a good feeling about the pregnancy and was determined to have the baby. Drew, Susan and Karl all pleaded with Libby not to put her life in such danger, but never one to be told what to do, Libby insisted she wasn't changing her mind. Drew eventually warmed to the idea of being a father, and once Libby assured him she would cut her workload and take things easy throughout the pregnancy, he supported her decision. And Karl and Susan gradually came to understand that Libby really wanted to be a mother, and they pledged their love and support.However, the pregnancy was to prove a traumatic few months for Libby. Despite her promise to Drew, she failed to cut back on her workload, and spent several weeks trying to secure an exclusive interview with the reclusive Dame Margaret Woolstead. Her hunt for Dame Margaret culminated in Libby collapsing in pain after finally tracking her down. Dame Margaret brought her inside and lay her on the couch while she called an ambulance, and as they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Dame Margaret tried to calm Libby down by granting her her long-sought-after interview. By the time Libby got to the hospital, the pain had stopped and while Drew, Karl and Susan rushed to her bedside to offer her comfort, Libby was more excited about finally getting her interview with Dame Margaret. Drew was furious with Libby for putting her life on the line by pursuing the interview in the first place, and warned her to give up journalism for the rest of the pregnancy. Libby infuriated Drew by rejecting his concerns and having her laptop and university work brought into her hospital room during her stay. But Drew came to realise that the work was just Libby's way of coping with the fear she was consumed with over the pregnancy after she broke down and told him how scared she was.Libby was thrilled when her journalism skills were recognised with an award at the Regional Journalism Awards for her expose on the fixed quiz show, Brainbusters. As a result of the award, Libby was offered a job as Youth Affairs correspondent at The Chronicle, a major daily newspaper. Drew and Susan both immediately objected to the idea of Libby taking such a demanding job while she was pregnant but Libby was determined to accept the job since it would be a major step forward in her career as a journalist. Libby accepted the job after a meeting with The Chronicle's editor, Martin West. However, the offer was withdrawn the next day under strange circumstances, and Libby quickly realised that West had pulled out of the deal after learning she was pregnant. Family friend and trainee lawyer Maggie Hancock suggested Libby sue The Chronicle for discrimination and after thinking over the idea, Libby agreed with the suggestion. A preliminary meeting with the paper's lawyer, Simon Hart, ended tensely after he accused Libby of only pursuing the case to make money and warned Libby and Maggie not to waste their time going to court because The Chronicle was prepared to fight them all the way. The meeting with Hart only served to increase Libby's determination to fight The Chronicle all the way and Maggie and Susan supported her in her determination. However, both Drew and Karl - while assuring Libby that they were proud of her for fighting against the act of discrimination - worried that the case could affect her pregnancy. Libby agreed with them after the baby kicked for the first time and helped her put things into perspective. But just as she was about to tell The Chronicle she would not be pursuing the case, they offered Libby an out of court settlement of $10,000.The offer put Libby in a difficult position. If she accepted the settlement, she was putting her reputation at risk by appearing to have only pursued the case to make money. On the other hand, the money would provide her and Drew with a decent financial base for the baby's arrival and buying a house - and Libby chose this option. But after receiving her settlement cheque in the post from The Chronicle, Libby realised they expected her to sign a document saying she had never been discriminated against by the paper and was never to talk about the incident to anyone. This infuriated Libby so much that she decided not to accept the settlement after all, and vowed to take the case to court and expose The Chronicle. Libby's fight against the newspaper was given a massive boost when Martin West's aggrieved secretary, Nancy Kelloway, approached Libby with some crucial evidence that would swing the case in her favour. Nancy provided Libby with an email West had sent her telling her that Libby was to be hired for the job on The Chronicle, and another email he had sent her later on the same day saying Libby wasn't suitable because she was pregnant. The new evidence forced The Chronicle to drop the case against Libby, and they agreed to settle with her. Libby was thrilled at her success in exposing the newspaper's discriminatory practices but her happiness was short-lived when she started to realise her name had been blacklisted in the journalism community as a result of the stand she had taken. The final straw for Libby was when her editor at the Erinsborough News - a former colleague of Martin West's - refused to publish her story in the paper. Disgusted by the betrayal from the newspaper she had worked on for so many years, Libby resigned.Drew was less than pleased when Libby announced that in light of her resignation from the Erinsborough News she was intending to start up her own magazine with Nadia, a friend from uni, using the money she had received from The Chronicle. Aside from his concerns of Libby overdoing it so much in the final months of her pregnancy, Drew also felt that the settlement money should be used to get a house and to support the baby. But the couple eventually compromised, and Libby agreed to invest $5,000 of the settlement money in her magazine, and keep the rest for a house deposit. After a lot of hard work and preparation, Libby was thrilled to pick up the first issue of Demo magazine from the printers. But she was stunned when she discovered Nadia was pulling out of the magazine having landed a job as editor on The Chronicle's new weekly magazine - also called Demo. Libby was furious that Nadia had taken their idea and sold it to The Chronicle, but she refused to give up on her dream, and published the first issue herself, under the new title, New Voice.Despite the baby being due any day, Libby insisted on going to Oakey with Drew and Karl for the annual rodeo in which Drew was competing. When Libby went for a walk during the rodeo, she stumbled across a barn and went inside to see some ponies. But a farmhand accidentally locked her in, and as Libby called out for someone to let her out, she went into labour. Libby tried to call Karl on her mobile as her contractions started getting stronger, but his mobile was switched off. She luckily managed to get hold of Susan back in Erinsborough, and after telling her what had happened, Susan scrambled to get hold of Karl and Drew. She finally got in touch with Karl by ringing Ron's cell phone, and Drew, Ron and Karl quickly found Libby locked inside the barn. Once they got her out, Libby was airlifted to Erinsborough Hospital where she gave birth to a baby boy. But her joy at becoming a mother was short lived after the warnings about it being dangerous for her to give birth proved true when she slipped into unconsciousness and flat lined. Luckily, the doctors brought her back from the brink of death, and after emergency surgery, Libby was stabilised and told she would make a full recovery.Libby and Drew decided to call the baby 'Ben', although there was uncertainty over whether or not he should take Kennedy or Kirk as a surname. They eventually agreed on using Kennedy as Ben's middle name, as well as Ian, in memory of a former editor of Libby's from the Erinsborough News who died of cancer just before the baby's christening. Libby underwent a bout of postnatal depression for the first few weeks of Ben's life, but gradually came to terms with the pressures involved in bringing up a baby. And after attending an editorial meeting for the second issue of New Voice, Libby realised that motherhood had changed her priorities significantly and decided to reconsider her commitment to the magazine.Libby and Drew were thrilled when Lou - who they had asked to be Ben's godfather -offered to let them move into No. 22 rent free since he was moving in with Harold Bishop next door at No. 24. Libby and Drew considered Lou's generous offer, with Libby strongly in favour of availing of Lou's offer and Drew less than enthusiastic about living across the street from Karl and Susan, fearing they would interfere by being so close. But Libby assured him that Susan and Karl would be no trouble, and after reminding him that they were already pretty close to them at the flat as it was, Drew finally agreed that he was worrying over nothing, and agreed to move into No. 22. They weren't alone at No.22 for long, however. Mal had returned from London and fallen out with Karl after he tried to oust Harold from the Coffee Shop, and as a result, spent a lot of time at Libby's seeking her help in healing the rift between him and Karl. And Steph moved in with the couple for a few months after discovering her fiancé, Marc Lambert had been having an affair with her sister, Flick.Libby found herself attracted to the idea of following her mother's footsteps into teaching after giving a guest talk about careers in journalism to Year 10 students at Erinsborough High. Despite getting a hard time from some of the students, Libby realised it was a rewarding career, especially after she began mentoring Boyd Hoyland in his accelerated learning programme in the wake of the talk she gave. Libby also started teaching Connor O'Neill, who was staying at the Scullys, how to read after he revealed he was illiterate. Unfortunately, just as everything was coming together for Libby in life, a series of events were to turn her world upside down, and change her life forever.When Susan slipped on some spilt milk, she suffered a nasty blow to her head and developed retrograde amnesia. The amnesia meant Susan lost the last thirty years of her memory, and Libby suddenly found herself with a mother who couldn't remember anything past her 16th birthday. Susan's amnesia brought about a massive upheaval in the Kennedy family, and Karl was devastated that his wife didn't remember anything of their marriage or children, and had no interest in remembering any of it either. Libby found it particularly difficult to deal with when Susan announced her plans to divorce Karl, and start her life afresh.In the midst of this drama, tragedy struck when Drew was killed suddenly in a horse-riding accident. Libby and Drew had been asked to move to Oakey by Ron, who wanted Drew to go into partnership with him on a stud farm. While Libby was reluctant to leave Erinsborough, she agreed to travel to Oakey with Drew to listen to Ron's proposal, and found herself gradually warming to the idea. And when Ron presented the couple with a beautiful house he was planning to buy for them, Libby and Drew were even more taken with the idea of moving to Oakey. Drew was clearly in love with the idea, but Libby was concerned about leaving her family behind at such a critical time. However, after talking to Ron, and later Dougal, Libby began to realise how important Drew's family was to him, and she started to think it was only fair that after all the time they had spent around her family, it was only fair they do the same with Drew's. And when Libby reflected on how much she missed being part of a family, between Mal living in London and Billy in Queensland, and her parents headed for divorce, she began to think that moving to Oakey would be good for her, Drew and Ben as a family. Drew was thrilled when Libby finally told him that she wanted to move up, and they toasted the new life ahead of them. The next day, Drew took Libby riding up at the stud farm, but their relaxing day took a tragic turn when Drew's cantankerous horse, Boney, threw him off, and Drew dropped to the ground in agony. Libby rushed up to the house to call an ambulance as Drew gasped for breath. Drew lost consciousness on the way to the hospital, and had to undergo emergency surgery after damaging his liver. Karl, Susan and Steph all rushed up to Oakey to be with Libby as she waited for news, and after Karl spoke to a specialist, he was forced to break the devastating news to his daughter that her beloved Drew had died.Drew was buried a few days later in Oakey, and Libby delivered a heartbreaking tribute to her husband at the service by singing Wild Mountain Thyme - the song Drew had serenaded her with at their wedding. Afterwards, Libby took Ben up to the house they would have been living in, and as they reflected on what had happened, Ron joined them. Blaming himself for his son's death by putting pressure on him to come back to Oakey, Ron told Libby that he wouldn't go ahead with the stud farm now. But Libby insisted that Ron should hold onto his plan, because otherwise, Drew's death had been for nothing.Upon returning to Erinsborough, Libby retreated into herself as she struggled to come to terms with losing the love of her life. Her family and friends rallied to help and support her, but Libby rejected everyone, locking herself away at No. 22 with Ben. It was only when young Summer Hoyland called to see her that Libby started to pick herself up. Summer had had a huge crush on Drew, and he had bought a teddy bear for Summer after she was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome. Now, Summer wanted Libby to have the teddy, because she figured Libby needed it more than she did. The gesture prompted Libby into renewing her interest in Ben, who she had been largely neglecting in the preceding days, and she thanked Summer for her support. Susan also eased Libby's pain by offering to move in with her, and help her out around the house and taking care of Ben. Although Libby was initially apprehensive about the idea, she eventually realised that Susan meant well, and the arrangement worked out well for them both. As time passed, Susan's memory continued to improve, and her relationship with Karl had also been renewed in the wake of Drew's death. Susan also suggested she and Libby go to uni together, so that Libby could study to become a teacher, as she had been planning to before Drew's death.Karl, Susan and Libby all reunited under one roof a few months later when Susan and Libby agreed to move back home to the Kennedy house. Although slightly worried about moving back in with her parents, Libby couldn't deny that the move would be of enormous benefit to her, as she juggled being a single mother and studying. And Karl and Susan's decision to renew their marriage vows thrilled Libby, and she gladly gave her mother away on the big day. There were sighs of relief all round in the middle of the ceremony when Susan regained her memory, and the Kennedys could finally put their nightmarish few months behind them.Libby found herself racked with feelings of guilt and unease when she found herself developing feelings for Stuart Parker - an old mate of Drew's from Oakey who had stayed with Libby and Drew at their flat when he first came to town and was now living next door at No. 30. In the wake of Drew's death, Stuart had promised to be on hand for Libby and Ben if ever they needed anything, but as he spent increasing amounts of time with Libby, Stuart started to fall in love with her. Libby was initially oblivious to the fact that Stuart was attracted to her, and even entered them in a magazine competition to find the perfect couple in an attempt at winning a cash prize for Stuart to visit Flick - his fiancee - in New York. However, when Libby and Stuart made it through to the final stages of the competition and were asked to take part in a photo shoot in which they had to kiss, Libby pulled out and retreated in horror at the prospect of kissing someone else. After admitting to Susan that she was racked with guilt at realising she had feelings for Stuart, Susan suggested that Libby was just being too reliant on Stuart since he had started helping her out, and Libby decided to stop seeing so much of Stuart. Stuart was disappointed and surprised when Libby announced she didn't need him to pick Ben up from creche anymore but he was forced to accept her decision. However, matters were complicated further for Libby when Stuart met the Kennedys in the pub having lunch, and Libby was horrified when Ben called Stuart 'dada'. Stuart finally confronted Libby about her reasons for suddenly pulling back from him, and he revealed he had started to fall in love with her, and had even broke off his engagement with Flick. But Libby was adamant that nothing could happen between them, and while she had momentarily felt something for him, she no longer did.Landing a work placement at Erinsborough High as part of her teaching course delighted Libby, because it meant working with Susan and also getting to teach in her old stomping ground. However, Libby was torn between being a teacher and a friend to the students at school after coming across Lori Lee putting up a full-blown shot of new principal Candace Barkham's adjusting a wedgie. Having thought Lori had taken them all down after she had a word with her, Libby was upset to later find the pictures still up around the school, and she was forced to dish out some stern words to Lori. On the other hand, Libby proved to be of enormous support to Year 12 student Taj Coppin as he struggled to come to terms with the discovery that his girlfriend Nina Tucker was seeing his best mate Jack Scully. Libby later went on to help Taj with his English and Media classes, and eventually agreed to tutor him in the subjects - without realising that Taj was actually falling madly in love with her.It was only when Taj took to sending her bouquets of flowers and invited her to the movies with him that Libby realised he was attracted to her. Susan urged Libby to tackle him about his feelings but she refused, insisting it would all die down. Besides, Libby was busy falling for someone herself. Dr. Cameron Hodder had recently replaced Libby’s cousin Darcy at Karl’s surgery and although his initial meeting with Libby was a hostile one, they soon found themselves drawn to each other. They went on a couple of dates, but Libby was horrified when Cameron let it be known that he wasn’t hugely interested in kids. In fact, he had a young son of his own who he never saw by his own choice. Libby knew at that point that there could be no future for her and Cameron, given that Ben was a huge part of her life and before the relationship could go any further Libby called a halt to it.Libby was soon forced to return her attentions to Taj when he kissed her one afternoon at school while she was helping him with a project in the editing suite. Libby was both shocked and appalled by Taj’s actions, and warned him not to dare do anything like it again. But Taj protested that he loved her, and refused to accept Libby’s insistence that it was just a schoolboy crush. Libby began to get confused about her feelings for Taj, especially when Steph suggested that perhaps, she liked him too. Susan, on the other hand, was adamant that Libby could not even entertain the notion of becoming involved with a student, and, in her capacity as VCE co-ordinator, Susan warned Taj off Libby. But it was an unsuccessful warning, and when Taj turned 18 shortly afterwards, he was even more confident about winning Libby over. Sadly, it was to take the tragic death of Dee on her wedding day to bring Libby and Taj together. Shocked by her friend’s disappearance and also overcome with painful memories of Drew’s death, Libby retreated to the pub to drown her sorrows. Taj met her there after finishing his shift at the hotel, and comforted her as she poured her heart out to him. Afterwards, Taj walked Libby home, but as they chatted on the porch, Libby admitted that she couldn’t face going inside. Taj invited her to spend the night at his house, since his parents were away, and he assured Libby he meant in a platonic sense. Libby thanked him for the gesture, and in that moment, gave in to her passions and kissed Taj.Libby went back with Taj to his place and had sex with him, a course of action which she immediately regretted the following morning. Sleeping with Taj had proved to be a massive mistake for Libby and after she confessed all to Susan, she felt even worse. Susan was horrified that her daughter could do something so damaging to her career, and she gave her the cold shoulder for several weeks as a result. Karl, on the other hand, surprised Libby by being completely understanding with her predicament - a far cry from the days when he used to disapprove of virtually all Libby’s boyfriends.Taj, meanwhile, had fallen for Libby even more now that they had slept together, and he pursued her relentlessly. Libby eventually told Taj she was going to arrange for him to be moved to a different media studies class. Taj was furious by this announcement, and called over to the Kennedy house after school to confront Libby. Not wanting Susan or Karl involved, Libby went outside to have a word with Taj. Taj told Liby she couldn’t keep avoiding the situation, and pressed her to sort things out once and for all. But Libby insisted the whole thing had to end immediately and warned Taj to stay away from her, before running back into the house. Taj shouted after her, telling her that he loved her, and then left the garden. However, unbeknown to both Taj and Libby, Boyd and his mate Daniel Clohesy had been in the Kennedy’s back yard retrieving their football and heard the whole conversation. By the end of that evening, half the kids from Erinsborough High knew, thanks to Daniel spreading the word down at the Coffee Shop. And when Steph heard Boyd and Daniel talking about it, she warned Libby about the ‘rumours’ the boys were circulating. Libby was shocked, but didn’t tell Steph that they were actually true. The next day, however, Libby called in sick to the school, unable to face Taj and the other kids.Libby fled to Tom’s cabin in the mountains to try and clear her head for a few days. On top of the problem with Taj, Libby was also deeply upset over the tension that had erupted between her and Susan over the situation. Despite trying to call Susan several times while she was at the cabin, Susan couldn’t bring herself to speak to Libby. Karl drove up on the weekend to offer Libby his support as she contemplated her future, and unbeknown to Libby, Taj also made his way up to the mountains to see her. But when he saw her from the distance playing happily on the lawn with Ben, he finally realised there could never be anything else between them and he left a simple note explaining his feelings before returning to Erinsborough.When Libby returned home, she was back in town just in time for the birth of Oscar Scully, and it was at the hospital whilst visiting Lyn and the newest Scully that Libby and Susan finally made their peace. However, the recent events had made Libby realise it was best for her to move out of No.28 and fend for herself again. And so, when Stuart needed to find somewhere else to live after falling out with Toadie, Libby suggested they rent a flat together. Stuart was a little reluctant to take such a big step on account of the feelings they had for each other a few months before, but Libby assured him it was just a logical move of convenience between friends. Although Karl and Susan were surprised by the announcement, they recognised the need to let Libby live her own life and kept their reservations to themselves. In the end, it wasn’t an attraction between Libby and Stuart that led to the new living arrangements failing to work, but rather a lack of attraction. Stuart was a messy bloke, Libby was a fussy mother. Realising they couldn’t live together, Libby asked Stuart to move out, and no sooner had he moved back in with Toadie at No.30 than Libby had moved Steph into the apartment. Steph had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, and didn’t want anyone but Libby and her brother Jack to know about her illness. This meant Steph had to break off her blossoming relationship with Max Hoyland, and move out of No.32 no sooner than she had moved in there. Libby was a huge source of support to Steph as she underwent an operation to have cancerous glands removed, although she did try to encourage Steph to tell Max and the rest of her family.Meanwhile, Libby decided to pack in her teaching career after the Taj debacle and sent her letter of resignation to Candace Barkham. When Susan caught wind of Candace’s intention to call over to Libby's apartment for a chat, she tried to warn Libby in advance. However, Candace got there first, and Libby braced herself for a stern talking to. But she got the opposite - Candace surprised Libby by revealing she had fallen for a student six years younger than her when she first began working as a teacher. Libby was delighted to listen to Candace’s similar experiences, and considered Candace’s plea not to give up on her teaching career. Soon after, Libby was thrilled to be offered a permanent teaching job in Adelaide and decided to take it. Although Karl and Susan were devastated at the prospect of her leaving, along with little Ben, and Steph would miss her friend as she went through chemotherapy, everyone understood that Libby badly needed a fresh start and wished her the best of luck in her new endeavour.In the initial months after Libby’s move to Adelaide, it seemed she wasn’t the only Kennedy who needed a fresh start. Karl was increasingly in turmoil over his career, missed opportunities – and most significantly, his marriage to Susan. He had turned to newcomer Izzy Hoyland, sister of Max, to confide in, although it gradually became clear that he was also attracted to the attractive new neighbour. In a matter of months, Karl and Susan’s marriage was practically over, and it culminated in Karl moving into a nearby flat. Libby was disgusted with her father, for what she saw as abandonment of her mother and she broke off contact with him. And when the opportunity of a two-year contract in Adelaide cropped up, Libby was torn over whether to accept it or return to Erinsborough. In the end, Libby decided that she wanted to be there for Susan at her darkest hour, and she and Ben returned to Erinsborugh. Susan was thrilled to have Lib and Ben back at No.28 with her, and Karl was delighted by their return. However, his joy was soured when he realised Libby had been back in town for a few days and hadn’t contacted him. At Susan’s urging, Libby called over to Karl’s flat to see him, where she vented her anger and confusion at him for walking out on nearly thirty years of marriage with Susan. Karl tearfully told Libby that it was all very confusing to him too, and that he was having difficulty coming to terms with the dramatic change in his life. But Libby took some comfort from Karl’s insistence that, contrary to rumours around the neighbourhood, he was not involved with Izzy and they were simply friends. The talk seemed to bode well for the future of Libby’s relationship with Karl, as they made their peace. But the resolution of the conflict between father and daughter was turned completely on its head when the next day, Libby called over to Karl’s unexpectedly and found Izzy there, having clearly spent the night with Karl. After Izzy hurriedly left, a disgusted Libby angrily confronted her father about the lies he had blatantly told her the day before. Karl desperately tried to explain to Libby that it had all happened unexpectedly the night before when Izzy called over and confessed she wanted to be with him. But Libby was having none of Karl’s explanations, and tearfully told him she was ashamed of him before returning home to break the news to Susan. And just as it seemed the situation couldn’t get any worse, Izzy announced she was pregnant with Karl’s child – a prospect which horrified Libby completely.In the midst of such a huge crisis in her life, a face from the past arrived on Libby’s doorstep – literally. It came as a huge surprise to Libby when she came home to find the electrician fixing the Kennedy’s fuse box was none other than Darren. Although Libby was shocked to see him after so many years, the sparks were instantly reignited between the pair, and they were catching up on their respective lives over a coffee. Darren revealed Brett had kept him informed over the years about what Libby had been up to, and Libby was touched when Darren offered her his condolences over the death of Drew. He also impressed Libby with a new, more sensitive side, and he proved to be great with Ben.The pair skirted around the fact that they were obviously still smitten with each other for weeks, and instead pretended all they wanted was friends. Darren irritated Libby by going on dates, and she retaliated by arranging to meet a guy she had been chatting to on the internet for a blind date. However, Libby was less than impressed when she turned up at the Coffee Shop to meet the mystery man and he appeared to be the same age as her grandfather. Luckily, he wasn’t the man she was due to meet and instead, Darren showed up. With no sign of her date, Libby was mortified in front of Darren, and stormed off. But she quickly realised that she had never told Darren she was meeting the guy from the internet, and clicked that her mystery man must have been him all along. After confronting Darren, Libby’s anger soon faded as he explained to her that he wanted to really show her he had changed and his whole reason for returning to Erinsborough and buying into Macauley’s Electricians was so he could give their relationship a second chance. Libby was thrilled with Darren’s confession that he was still in love with her, and they were soon dating again.However, Libby was confused by Darren’s apparent reluctance to sleep with her. Despite numerous occasions were they had the chance to be alone, Darren kept thinking of excuses and places he had to be. He finally admitted to Libby that he had taken advice from Lou to leave her waiting as long as possible to ensure she wouldn’t be disappointed. Libby assured Darren she had waited long enough, and on the night of Stephanie and Max’s wedding they finally slept together. While Susan and Libby’s friends were thrilled for her, Karl was less than happy about Darren’s return to Libby’s life and made his feelings known. However, Libby made it clear to Karl that it was none of his business, and continued to have as little as possible to do with him. In fact, it was Darren who convinced Libby to call on Karl to wish him a Happy 49th Birthday.Just as things looked like they couldn’t get any better between Libby and Darren, the ghosts of the past came back to haunt them. When there was a break-in at Jack Scully’s building site, all of the contractors who had had access to the site in recent weeks were questioned. Because Darren had worked on the site, he was included in the questioning, but he didn’t take too kindly to having the cops on his case again. Libby was initially furious when Karl suggested it was quite likely that Darren was the thief, given his criminal past, but after Darren presented her with an expensive necklace she began to consider the possibility that he may have committed the robbery. Matters were made worse when Jack, who had staged the break in himself to fund his drug habit, was convinced by his girlfriend, corrupt police constable Olivia MacPherson to let Darren take the blame. Darren was arrested, and Libby began to seriously doubt his innocence.Although Darren’s name was cleared after his alibi checked out, he was by this stage, furious with Libby for not trusting him and allowing his past to yet again cloud the present. Within days, he arranged to sell the business and leave town, only telling Lou of his plans, and admitting to him that he had bought an engagement ring and had been building up to proposing to Libby. Knowing how much Libby and Darren were meant to be together, Lou told Libby about Darren’s plans and urged her to stop him. But she was too late. After catching up with him just as he signed the papers finalising the sale of Macauley’s, Libby was devastated when Darren told her he couldn’t stay with her because she didn’t trust him completely. Darren left town that same evening, making one last phone call to Libby as he drove out of town. From a phone box, he tearfully spoke to her down the phone, but as a heartbroken Libby pleaded with him to come back and forgive her, Darren left the ring in the phone box, the receiver dangling and left Erinsborough once more.To take her mind off her broken heart, Libby decided to return to Erinsborough High when Candace offered her her former post as Media Studies teacher back. Although nervous on her first day back, Libby decided the best way to deal with any gossip and rumours amongst the students relating to her relationship with Taj was to talk frankly and openly about what she had done. The students respected her for her honesty and tough but firm approach to the situation and once day one was over, the Taj incident didn’t rear its head again.When Libby entered a competition to win a date with the star of the addictive Brazilian soap opera Lust Na Vila, Alessandro Cortes, she never expected to be the winner. But before she knew it, she found herself being invited to a slap-up lunch at Lassiter’s with Alessandro and two guests of her choice. She brought Susan and Lyn along but immediately regretted it when Alessandro appeared to only have eyes for older women and barely gave her a look-in all day. However, after Lyn and Susan were gone and Libby was just about to leave, she was surprised when Alessandro invited her to dine with him that night at the hotel. He explained that because older women were the soap’s target audience, his producers forced him to shower them with affection and his flirtatious behaviour with Susan and Lyn had purely been for the photographers. Libby was hugely flattered when he gave her his room number at the hotel and pleaded with her to join him there later. Upon arriving home to a conversation between Susan and Lyn discussing how sexy Alessandro was and how lucky anyone would be to have him to themselves, Libby couldn’t resist Alessandro’s offer and raced back down to Lassiter’s. She spent the night with him but the next morning regretted her actions and hurried home. Alessandro raced after Libby, puzzled as to why she was leaving. He tried to persuade Libby to give him a chance but she apologised and insisted she had stuff to sort out. Sindi was shocked when Libby told her about her night of passion with Alessandro and couldn’t understand why she had left his hotel room so abruptly. However, Libby revealed that she was still desperately in love with Darren and couldn’t contemplate getting involved with anyone else.No sooner had Libby realised that she was still pining for Darren than a bouquet of flowers were delivered to the Kennedy house from Darren with a card for Libby telling her he missed her. After some prompting from Sindi, Libby decided to give Darren a call and he admitted that he still loved her and wanted her and Ben to join him in Shepparton. Libby struggled to make her mind up, but after a heart to heart with Susan in which Susan urged her to grab any chance of happiness with both hands; Libby decided to make the move. Karl was a little taken aback by the suddenness of her decision, but respected Libby’s choice and finally gave his blessing to her union with Darren. After a rocky few months, father and daughter finally put the past behind them as Karl told Libby he loved her and was proud of her, and assured her that he would always be there for her. When Susan helped Libby pack her last belongings into the car, she broke down as she told Libby she had been her rock in recent months and couldn’t have got through it all without her. As the neighbours gathered on Ramsay Street to say goodbye to Libby, some last minute reservations crept in as she realised what she would be leaving behind. But everyone applauded her for following her heart and finally finding happiness with Darren. After a lingering kiss and thought of what might have been with Stuart, emotional goodbyes to her long standing neighbours Lou and Harold, and tearful farewells to her closest friends Toadie and Steph, Libby said a final goodbye to Susan as she and Ben left Ramsay Street to begin their new life with Darren. And Ramsay Street waved goodbye to a much-loved resident who had arrived ten years before as a fresh faced teenager and was leaving an independent young woman with a world of experience behind her.In 2007, Libby and Ben returned to Ramsay Street when Susan was facing one of the biggest crisises of her life. After falling asleep at the wheel and knocking down 16-year-old neighbour Bridget Parker (the daughter of Drew's best mate Steve, who had recently moved into No.26 with his family), Susan was in court charged with reckless driving. As Libby returned, the legal proceedings had a happy outcome, with Susan receiving a one-year custodial sentence, suspended for three years, but the mysterious medical condition that had caused her to fall asleep in the first place was still causing concern. After some tests, everyone was alarmed to learn that Susan had been suffering from TIAs, a series of small strokes, with the possibility of a larger one striking at any moment. Concerned for her mum's health, Libby decided to stick around indefinitely, despite the cramped conditions at the Kennedy house. In the years Libby had been living in Shepparton, Susan had married a terminally ill university lecturer, Alex Kinski, and when he died, she had become guardian to his two teenage children, Rachel and Zeke. Karl, meanwhile, had gone on to father a child - Holly - with Izzy, but she had since relocated to London and Susan and Karl were now remarried. Although Susan had come to terms with Karl's parentage of Izzy's baby, it irked Libby and tension was still apparent between father and daughter.Meanwhile, Libby began to cause suspicion amongst her family and friends when she continuously changed the subject whenever anyone asked when Darren would be joining her. She kept insisting he was too busy with work back in Shepparton to come down to Erinsborough, but Susan and Karl knew something was up when she began refusing to take his phone calls. Steph was also quick to pick up on Libby's reluctance to discuss Darren and told Toadie, who she was now engaged to, of her suspicions but whenever she tried to broach the subject with her, Libby clammed up or found an excuse to leave.Susan's continuing health problems took centre stage, however, when she was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The Kennedy family were devastated by the news, and Libby threw herself into playing the role of mother to Zeke and Rachel while Susan was in hospital coming to terms with it all. When Zeke was in trouble at school, Libby took on the task of appearing before his teacher - her old colleague, Daniel Fitzgerald - in order to keep any further drama from Karl and Susan, and she told the kids that they were to come to her with any problems for the forseeable future.In the midst of all this drama, Darren showed up on Ramsay Street clutching a bouquet of flowers and was determined to see Libby. She was having none of it, however, and refused to even let him up the driveway of No.28. Karl appeared in the middle of the stand-off between the pair, and he and Darren ended up coming to blows as Darren told him to mind his own business. Libby broke things up and told Darren that it was over between them, before storming inside and refusing to elaborate further with a puzzled Karl. It was only after much prodding that Karl finally got Libby to admit that Darren had been having an affair with her neighbour and friend, Lynda Stephens. She had originally believed it to be a one night stand but on the day of Susan's court case, Libby had discovered it was a full blown affair, prompting her to pack up and head straight home to Erinsborough. Karl tried to support Libby but when he pressed her over why she had kept it all to herself, Libby angrily retorted that she felt uncomfortable talking to Karl about it given he had cheated on Susan in much the same way. Having calmed down, Libby apologised to Karl and the two united to plan a special homecoming party on Ramsay Street to mark Susan's return from hospital. Darren, however, wasn't going away and was staying with Lou and Harold across the street, leading to many questions from Ben as to why Darren wasn't staying with them. Libby explained to him that there just wasn't enough space at No.28, particularly with Susan needing to rest and recuperate upon her return from hospital. Susan, meanwhile, was disgusted when she learnt of Darren's affair and when he appeared at the Kennedys to see her, she threw him out.Libby made moves to emphasise things were over between her and Darren by enrolling Ben at Erinsborough Primary School, and when Darren found out, Libby told him it had nothing to do with him since Ben wasn't his son. Hurt by this, Darren retreated to Toadie's to confide in him, and admitted that he had been driven to the affair with Lynda because of the Drew factor - Libby hadn't let go of Drew and when Darren had asked to adopt Ben, she had refused, fearing it would diminish Ben's memory of his father. Toadie's support for Darren caused a rift between him and Steph because Steph obviously sided with Libby.With Christmas approaching, Libby realised it was unfair to Ben to keep him from seeing Darren and she agreed to let Darren take care of him while she did some Christmas shopping. But when Darren dropped Ben home and Ben started talking about going on a fishing trip with Darren once they were all back in Shepparton, Libby accused Darren of using Ben to get her back - leaving Darren furious that she would ever suggest he'd use the child in such a way.Seeing how hurt Darren was and how he simply wasn't prepared to give up on her, Libby began to have second thoughts about ending their relationship. Witnessing how much in love her parents still were, despite all the ups and downs they'd experienced, made Libby wonder if she could forgive Darren. Steph added to her misgivings by pointing out that she was worshipping Drew's memory and unfairly measuring up her relationship with Darren against the rose coloured view she had of her marriage to Drew. Libby initially rejected Steph's theory, insisting it didn't mean Darren should have felt free to have an affair but Steph reasoned that by depriving Darren of the right to marry her or adopt Ben meant Libby was signalling to him that he would never live up to Drew. While Libby was angry with Steph, the home truths she had delivered resonated with her enough to admit to herself that her actions had played a part in the break-up and she decided to give things another go with Darren.Libby was touched when Darren presented her with a beautiful pendant for Christmas and announced he had won a major wiring contract on a new housing development in Shepparton. But just as everything seemed to be going right for them, Libby announced to Darren that she wasn't prepared to move back to Shepparton and wanted them to make a fresh start in Erinsborough. Darren was less than pleased with the ultimatum, thinking Libby was trying to punish him for his mistakes and he told her he would need time to think about things. While Libby happily started telling her family that she and Darren were back together and staying in Ramsay Street, Darren was confiding in tomboy mechanic Janae Timmins, who was fixing the engine on his van in return for him repairing the dodgy wiring at her garage. Janae was also having relationship problems with her boyfriend Ned Parker, younger brother of Stuart, and as she and Darren confided in each other, Janae kissed Darren.While all this was going on, across town further drama was unfolding. The teens of Ramsay Street, including Zeke, had sneaked off to an illegal dance party in a disused warehouse and when it had collapsed, Zeke and several others had been trapped under the rubble. Libby rushed in to help Zeke, but became trapped herself when there was secondary collapse. Having fallen unconscious, Libby was eventually rescued by Daniel, who was at the scene of the collapse in his capacity as an SES volunteer, and in the wake of the accident, she and Darren vowed to make the most of their lives together and look to the future. Libby even agreed to move to Shepparton so that they wouldn't miss out on the financial stability the housing contract would provide.Unfortunately, as had been the case with Libby and Darren since they were teenagers, another stupid mistake involving Darren and another woman was to once again prove the couple's undoing. Janae had been riddled with guilt over the kiss she and Darren had shared and had revealed all to Ned. Darren had pleaded with Ned not to tell Libby, and Ned agreed to keep it to himself unless Libby ever asked him out straight about it. Darren anxiously made final preparations for the move back to Shepparton, delighting Libby by revealing he had put in an offer for a cottage she had been admiring in Shepparton for some time. But a stressed Janae ruined everything by harrassing Darren at a party in No.30 to celebrate the birth of Chloe Cammeniti by insisting that Libby should know what they did. Just as she blurted this out to Darren, a power failure caused the music to cut out and their conversation was heard by everyone, including Karl and Susan, who demanded to know what they were referring to. Realising the game was up, Darren went to find Libby in the kitchen of No.30, where he revealed he had kissed Janae. Libby was stunned by this latest revelation and quickly became angry with herself for allowing herself to give Darren yet another chance only for him to let her down again. Unable to ever trust Darren again, Libby told him it was over and he was to stay away from her, her family and Ben. When the dust had settled a few days later, Libby asked Darren to sit down with her and explain to Ben that their relationship was over. Ben didn't understand why they were not going to be together anymore, but Darren took full responsibility, saying he had hurt his mum's feelings very badly. Later that day, Darren said a final goodbye to Ben, asking him to take care of Libby, before leaving Erinsborough, and a tearful Libby behind for good.Libby's anguish over the split with Darren was soon distracted by a family crisis. Rachel had been involved in a secret relationship with her young teacher Angus Henderson, and when the truth was exposed, Angus had lost his job and been charged by the police while Rachel and Susan locked horns over her behaviour. Libby found herself providing a shoulder to cry on for Rachel, particularly given the similarities to the position she had found herself in with Taj when she was teaching at the school. Libby's stance on the issue caused friction with Susan, but Libby explained to Susan that she needed to approach the situation as a parent and not a teacher. Further damage was done to the family when the Erinsborough News got hold of the story and prepared to publish it on its front page. Libby paid a visit to the editor, Brad Jordan, in the hope that her history with the newspaper might help talk him out of publishing the story but he refused. Brad became further involved in the saga, however, when Rachel ran away from home and hid out at Brad's house, unbeknownst to him, with his daughter and Rachel's schoolfriend Taylah. When Brad found Rachel, he promptly called the Kennedys over to take her home, and once back at No.28, Rachel unleashed a scathing attack on Susan, culminating in her telling Susan she hated her. Libby later found Rachel in her room and finally made her see that Angus wasn't going to return the multitude of messages she had been leaving with him ever since their relationship had been exposed. Libby explained to Rachel that she had been in Angus' shoes herself and how it had almost ruined her life, Taj's life and her relationship with Susan. Although the revelation had suceeded in getting Rachel to re-think her behaviour towards Susan, it only served to resurrect the bad feeling between Susan and Libby over the Taj relationship. Susan was unimpressed with Libby telling Rachel about it, believing it would only make Rachel justify her relationship with Angus even more and she reminded Libby that it had hardly been her proudest moment. With tension high between mother and daughter, Susan later apologised when she realised Libby had actually helped Rachel by telling her about Taj and Libby warned Susan not to judge Rachel in the same way she had judged her, before they hugged and made up.With a lot of her belongings still in Shepparton, Libby asked Steph to accompany her there for the weekend to pack up and tie up one final loose end. With Darren away, Libby had the place to herself but she was confronted with a visit from Lynda soon after arriving. A frosty exchange occurred but Lynda helped Libby achieve some final closure on things by telling her that Darren had always loved her, but just always felt he was never going to match up for Drew. Having packed everything up and put Lynda out of her life, Libby decided to let her down and she and Steph headed for a local pub where they got the pulses racing of the mainly male punters by dancing on the bar Coyote Ugly style.With a life to rebuild for herself in Erinsborough, Libby applied for a teaching position at her old stomping ground, Erinsborough High and found herself having to contend with the class clown Justin Hunter taking swipes at Rachel on her first day. But once settled back in, Libby was at the heart of the school once again and became a teacher who the students could always go to for help and advice. Working at the school also meant Libby was seeing more of Daniel, and they regularly hooked up for coffees and chats during and after school. It soon became evident that there was an attraction between them and things came to a head when they accompanied the Year 11 students on the school camp in the bush. But just as Libby was beginning to open up to the possibility of a relationship with Dan, he broke the news to her that the girlfriend he had once spoken about, Samantha, was actually his wife and they were still married. Libby immediately jumped to the conclusion that Dan was playing away from his wife and determined not to be the other woman, she stormed off without letting him explain any further. The following morning at camp, Dan again tried to explain things but only got as far as telling Libby that his wife was ill before she assumed he had cruelly left her because she was sick.Once they were back in Erinsborough, Libby reluctantly agreed to have a drink with Dan at Charlie’s bar to hear him out and she was surprised to learn that Samantha was bipolar. Daniel explained how he hadn’t left her, but rather she had left him because she wanted him to have a life free of worrying about when she would next have an episode or turn to drugs and casual sex with strangers (as she had done in the past) to escape her problems. Libby thanked Dan for being honest with her, but rejected his assertion that he could move on from Samantha and commit to a relationship with her because she could tell by talking to him that he still cared for his wife and as long as that was the case, she couldn’t pursue things any further with him. In order to prove to Libby that things were over between him and Samantha, Dan began trying to track her down so that he could divorce her. But Libby was unhappy at the prospect of being part of a potential divorce and sought advice from Toadie on what possible role she would play in any legal aspects of the divorce. However, on top of assuring Libby that she would play no part in the divorce because Dan and Samantha were already separated for a number of years, Toadie made Libby see that life was too short to be agonising over whether or not to get into a relationship and Libby resolved to go for it with Dan. But a spanner was thrown into proceedings when Samantha showed up in Erinsborough, having heard that Dan had been looking for her. An awkward moment occurred when Libby was introduced to Sam by Dan, and Libby detected straight away that Sam still had feelings for her estranged husband. Although agreeing to the divorce, Sam decided to stick around in Erinsborough and accepted some work at Toadie’s law practice where his partner Rosetta Cammeniti had studied with her at uni. Libby and Dan again took to tip-toeing around their feelings for each other but when Dan suffered some minor injuries in a mineshaft collapse and was taken to hospital, Samantha was on hand to comfort him and they began to rediscover their feelings for one another. Libby was then forced to put on a brave face as Dan and Sam decided to give their marriage another go.Libby, meanwhile, decided to move in with Steph at No.32 after her relationship with Toadie ended and she was rattling around the house with only her young son Charlie for company. The arrangement suited because the Kennedy house was filled with teen angst and Ben and Charlie enjoyed each other’s company, while Libby and Steph relished the chance to spend more time together. However, with Dan and Sam living happily next door at No.30, Libby found it increasingly awkward to be around them. But after Ben went missing one afternoon and Sam found him down a drain on Ramsay Street, where he was pretending to be an SES volunteer like Dan, Libby attempted to express her gratitude by inviting the couple over for dinner. Sam opted out at the last moment but insisted Dan go ahead without her. Libby and Dan went on to have a great evening together, and Ben loved having Dan around. Sam had a change of heart, though, and made her way over to No.32 where she witnessed Libby, Dan and Ben acting like a happy family unit through the window. A few days later, Sam and Libby were at No.30 together when Sam admitted to Libby that she had faked an illness so as to avoid the dinner and Libby assured her that she had nothing to worry about – she had no intention of making a play for Dan. However, Libby and Dan were once again thrown together at school when the prissy Head of Senior School Helen Carr forced them to teach dance classes for the seniors ahead of the formal dance. With Dan’s dancing skills leaving a lot to be desired, Libby began teaching him after school but when Sam dropped into the school and saw them together, she picked up on the chemistry between them.In an attempt at holding onto her man, Samantha asked Dan to try for another baby (she had miscarried some years previous)and he reluctantly agreed, even though it would mean her coming off her medication. When Libby walked in on Sam taking a pregnancy test one day at the law offices, she wrongly assumed Sam’s test had been positive and congratulated her. The test had been negative, however, but Sam decided to go along with the pretence of being pregnant. When Libby saw Dan a few hours later, she inadvertently broke the news to him and assured him that she was very happy for them both. When Dan came down with chicken pox, he sent Sam out of the house so that the baby wouldn’t be in danger and Libby dropped by the office to drop some food off for her only to find her frantically scrubbing the filing cabinets. The behaviour worried Libby, and she raised it with Dan. However, Sam had covered her tracks by telling Dan the office had been overcome by a plague of ants which had forced her to scrub the place clean, and he reacted angrily to Libby’s interference, telling her to stay out of his business.Susan Wendy Kennedy (nee Smith, previously Kinski, Jackie Woodburne). During her 15 year stint on Ramsay Street she has been divorced, remarried and widowed, she has been in a plane crash, become a stepmother to three children, a grandmother, suspended from work numerous times, had retrograde amnesia, been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, mourned the loss of her stepson, and had frequent splits from her first husband Karl. The MS diagnosis caused Susan to take sick leave from her job at Erinsborough High and, some months later, she embarked on a change of career when Paul Robinson offered her a job as a journalist. He had recently acquired the local newspaper, the Erinsborough News and was impressed by an article Susan wrote in defense of Rachel, about whom Paul had manipulated an article relating to her relationship with teacher Angus Henderson.Journalist Riley Parker (Sweeney Young, 2007-2008).  Parker met Elle (Pippa Black) at Charlie’s Bar and the two became friends. After falling for her he competed for her affection with Oliver. Riley gained a cadetship at the Erinsborough News and shared it with Elle as a result of her losing her old job and finding an interest in journalism. They went secretly to an illegal dance party to report for Erinsbourough News even though they had clear instructions not too. In the end (after the roof collapsed) they both made it out. Riley then revealed his feelings to Elle through a draft of a news article. Elle saw it, blushed and told Riley that she wasn’t ready to be involved in a relationship Riley didn’t believe her. After revealing his feelings for Elle, Riley caught the eye of his new coworker Heather Pryor (Georgina Andrews) and developed a relationship. Elle was a little jealous but Riley and her agreed to be friends. Lucinda “Elle Robinson” (Pippa Black) quit her job as Lassiter’s manager when Will Griggs, the 51 percent shareholder of Lassiter’s demanded she fire Oliver or Paul. Instead she resigned, giving 25 percent to Paul and 24 percent to Oliver. She signed up as a journalist for the Erinsborough News under Brad Jordan. While scouting an illegal dance party with Riley for the Erinsborough News, Elle and Riley are trapped in the debris after the roof of the warehouse venue collapses. They are eventually found by the SES team, and Elle was rushed to hospital. After being released, Elle began to have horrific flashbacks of being trapped but refused to believe, even after experiencing two panic attacks, that she was suffering from post traumatic stress. In addition, she began to associate Riley with the disaster and this dampened the opportunity for a romantic relationship between them. Riley and Paul tried to help her deal with it but she pushed them away. With some persuasion, Karl helped Elle fight her post traumatic stress. Elle then apologized to Riley for the way she treated him after the roof collapse, telling him that whenever she saw his face it bought back the terrifying memories. Riley then asked her where that left them and Elle confirmed that they were “just good friends.” While reporting on Pete Ferguson with Susan Kinski, the pair were kidnapped and held hostage by Ferguson. Being confined to a car all night triggered Elle’s bad memories of the dance party. Ferguson wanted Paul Robinson to print his article in the paper, with the agreement that there be no police contact and the two women be set free and unharmed. In a moment of desperation, Paul instead printed a “wanted” notice on the Erinsborough News front page resulting in Ferguson holding Elle as bait. Steve, the man Ferguson was targeting, agreed to a tradeoff and went with Paul to face Ferguson. Elle was unharmed, but for weeks afterward she held a grudge against Paul for valuing a headline over his terrified daughter. In 2009, Elle quit her job as a journalist at the Erinsborough News after she disagreed about the way her father was running stories on the Kennedy’s surrogacy. Paul later agreed not to make the Kennedys front page news but it was too late to change Elle’s mind, despite him telling her that he bought the paper for her. She told Paul that she wanted to try and make it as a journalist without his help and the only way to do that is to make a clean break away from the paper. On November 9, 2009, Elle got a job offer at the New York News and was ready to leave for New York. She made the decision not to go because of Donna, and was later forced into not going because James Linden stole all her money. In June 2009, it was announced Elle will be leaving. Riley Parker 2007-Lived: 26 Ramsay StreetParents: Steve and Miranda Parker (adoptive); Joanna Hale (biological)Siblings: Bridget, Josie and ClaraFamily Tree: ParkerOccupation: Student, Trainee Journalist, Erinsborough Veterinary Clinic EmployeeLaidback surfer Riley spent much of his youth in foster homes before being adopted at the age of 12, along with his 6-year-old sister, Bridget (Didge for short), by vet Steve Parker and his wife, Miranda. Though grateful that his new parents had kept him and his sister together, Riley couldn’t help feeling that he wasn’t really wanted and that Steve and Miranda had only taken him on because they felt obligated after adopting Bridget. Over the years, Riley struggled to open up to his adoptive parents, simply bottling up his emotions. As he neared the end of a veterinary sciences course at university, with Steve delighted that his son was following in his footsteps, Riley realised that he needed to get away for a while and, at the age of 22, he took some time out from uni and his family to go travelling around Australia, only keeping in touch with Didge.Whilst Riley was away, the remaining Parkers relocated from Sydney to Erinsborough, a Melbourne suburb, where Steve’s brother Ned lived, and where he planned to open up his new veterinary clinic. Miranda, meanwhile, was growing deeply upset with Riley’s lack of contact, and convinced Bridget to tell her where he was. Having found out that he was spending some time surfing in and around the coastal town of Eden, Miranda and Bridget headed up there to pay him a surprise visit. Riley was shocked to see them, and broke the news to Miranda that he had dropped out of his uni course, with no intention of returning. But after a little begging, and some emotional blackmail, from Didge, Riley did at least agree to go back with them and spend a few days in Erinsborough, following them home in his beat-up yellow van.In Erinsborough, where the Parkers were now living with Ned, his girlfriend Janae Timmins and Ned’s young son, Mickey, Steve was delighted to see Riley back, but stunned by the news that he’d given up on his studies so close to completing them. Feeling that he was once again a disappointment, Riley started making plans to leave, but Didge caught up with him and explained that Steve and Miranda had sacrificed a lot to pay for him to go to university and, after setting up the new clinic, they were now broke. Miranda also convinced Steve to make an effort, and father and son had a chat, during which Riley admitted that he’d been writing for the uni newspaper and his plan was now to try and get into journalism. Though not convinced that this was Riley’s true vocation, particularly after he helped to treat a stray dog that was run over, Steve agreed to support his son in whatever he wanted to do.Though happy to have Riley back home with them, Steve, and particularly Miranda, couldn’t help noticing that he was still very distant and he finally opened up about the feelings of rejection he’d been living with since he was 12. Steve and Miranda assured him that the only reason they had hesitated was because they were only expecting a six-year-old girl and hadn’t planned on adopting a young man, but their doubts had only lasted for seconds and they had never once regretted it since. Riley wasn’t convinced, however, and ended up spending the evening in Charlie’s Bar, chatting to Elle Robinson as she drowned her sorrows over her father’s new girlfriend leaving her feeling pushed out at home. She also succeeded in making Riley realise that perhaps he was being a little harsh on Steve and Miranda, so he returned to Ramsay Street and apologised to them, agreeing to stick around and try to make things work.Despite agreeing to stay in Erinsborough, Riley made it clear that he still valued his independence and would be following his own path. He decided to start looking for his own flat, whilst also applying for a cadetship with the Erinsborough News. After impressing editor Brad Jordan, Riley was taken on as a reporter and found himself helping Elle when her dad, Paul confessed to a murder committed at Lassiter's three years earlier. Because he'd recently undergone neurosurgery, the police were unwilling to accept his confession, but Brad soon got word from the police that someone had confessed and printed a story. Worried that it wouldn't be long before her dad was in prison, Elle and Riley wrote their own story, talking about how a high percentage of murder confessions were false.It was then Elle's turn to support Riley through a family crisis, when Bridget was involved in a hit-and-run accident. At the hospital, Riley, Steve and Miranda waited for news as Didge was taken in for emergency surgery to relieve bleeding on her brain. The delicate operation was a success, but Bridget remained unconcsious and Declan Napier was immediately blamed for the accident, his car having been spotted driving away by young Mickey. But everyone was taken by surprise when Susan Kinski, the Parkers' neighbour and Miranda's close friend, explained that she had been driving, as her husband Karl had borrowed the car for a test drive, and had blacked out, then driven off without realising she'd hit anyone. The disbelieving Parkers refused to listen to any excuses and angrily warned her that they'd make sure she was prosecuted for what she'd done. Riley decided that the best way to hurt Susan was by ruining her reputation and he printed a story about the hit-and-run, using a photo of Susan carrying a bottle of wine, amongst other groceries, in from the car, and implying that she had been drinking and driving. The story led to a brick being thrown through Susan's window, which hit her stepdaughter, Rachel. At the hospital, Rachel was treated for concussion and Riley began to see that maybe his course of action hadn't been the right one. Elle agreed, and told him about her brother Cameron who'd been knocked down and killed, leading her to take terrible revenge on Max Hoyland, who'd been driving, though it had left her feeling worse than before.Riley then wrote a retraction, and the family were relieved when, after days of sitting by Didge's bed, reading the sports results and even sneaking in her pet kangaroo Pouch, she finally started to wake up. Though it seemed that her brain functions had returned to normal, the doctor was still worried that Didge had no feeling in the left side of her body and admitted that this might not simply be a temporary problem. Steve and Miranda allowed Didge to believe that she would recover quickly, but it was left to Riley to tell her the truth, and she threw herself into her physiotherapy, making it clear that she wasn't going to let her disability hold her back for long. Meanwhile, Riley found himself defending Elle when her ex-boyfriend Oliver started asking for tips on how to decorate the nursery for the baby he was expecting with Carmella. Riley reminded Oliver how insensitive he was being, since it was Carmella's pregnancy that had forced Oliver and Elle apart. The rivalry between the two men worsened during the Erinsborough fun run, when Riley tripped over, not far from the finishing line, just as Oliver was passing, and a fight quickly broke out, with Elle left to warn them both that she's wasn't a prize for them to brawl over.Owner of the News Agency Philip Martin (Ian Rawlings) has a career path has been anything but typical, from an unemployed financial expert he became the manager of the Lassiter’s hotel complex after a brief stint as the school caretaker. He then ran his own news agency business in Lassiter’s arcade, then sold it to become a romance writer with the pseudonym “Philippa Martinez” and finally came full circle to being a financial advisor again. 	158343