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Guest Character Profiles > Johnno Brewer Damien Aylward

Jonathan [Johnno] Brewer 2009
Occupation: Professional Gambler

Looking for excitement after settling with girlfriend Elle Robinson in suburban Erinsborough, mechanic Lucas Fitzgerald started gambling, though quickly found himself in over his head. But he couldn't resist when Johnno Brewer contacted him about arranging a poker game, and before long, Lucas, Johnno and a few others were gathered around a table at the garage. After a couple of hours, Lucas wanted to cash in his chips and give up while he was ahead, but was interrupted when colleague Steph came looking for him. Realising she wasn't about to leave, Johnno suggested inviting her in and she was shocked to realise what Lucas had been getting up to. Uncomfortably, she kept up the pretence of being his girlfriend as he continued to play, even stepping in to take his place when he went to take a call from his real girlfriend, Elle, wondering where he was. As Lucas' lucky streak started to run out, he took Steph to one side and admitted that Johnno had lent him $4000 and he had almost lost it all. Without thinking, they pushed over some tyres, and grabbed the opportunity to flee, managing to hide until Johnno and his mates had gone, only to return and find that they'd trashed the garage and taken the money from the till.

A couple of days later, Johnno returned to the garage, demanding the rest of his money. As he'd only managed to find $200 in the till, Lucas still owed $3800 and, as Johnno threatened to smash the windscreen of the Parker family's car on the forecourt, Lucas stopped him and promised that he would get the money to him somehow. Lucas then desperately tried, and failed, to raise the money, so when Johnno and his henchman Kotto turned up at the garage to collect it, it was still around $1000 short. Just as it looked like Lucas was about to be taken for a 'little chat' with Kotto, he decided to swallow his pride and called his brother Dan, who brought the money and found out the truth about his brother's gambling problem.

Only days later, the Parker family were involved in a car accident after having their car serviced at Lucas' garage. With teenager Bridget Parker dead, an investigation began, with Steph the focus to begin with, as she had performed the service. With Steph insistent that she'd done the work correctly, Dan started looking at the security cameras from Grease Monkeys, opposite the garage, and noticed that Johnno had tampered with the car whilst it was out on the forecourt. Johnno had seen Lucas return from taking the car on its test drive and, believing it was Lucas' vehicle, he had caused damage to it, leading to the Parkers' accident. Determined that Johnno would pay, Lucas tracked him down at the hotel and joined in a poker game in his room, before ushering the police in. At the station, however, there wasn't enough evidence to keep Johnno and he was allowed to go free, but Bridget's grieving husband Declan wasn't about to let it drop and went to the hotel to confront Johnno, only to be thrown out of the room by Kotto. Later that day, Declan returned and managed to record Johnno's confession to tampering with the car, unaware that his soon-to-be stepfather Paul had already been to visit Johnno. Paul had told Johnno to confess and give Declan peace of mind, and in return, he would pay for the best lawyer in the city and make sure he never went to prison for his crimes. But as Johnno was led into the police station, Paul made a call to lawyer Tim Collins, telling him to make sure that Johnno ended up behind bars for a very long time.

Trivia Notes
• Damien Aylward returned in 2013 as Harry Austin and in 2023 as Senior Sergeant Thompson

Episodes Featured
5725, 5726, 5728, 5731, 5732, 5751, 5752

Biography by Steve

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