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Guest Character Profiles > Victor Cleary Richard Sutherland

Victor Cleary 2014
Siblings: Gus and Laura

After emigrating to the UK in 2000, Victor Cleary ended up spending nine years in prison and, upon his release, began looking for the people responsible for the death of his older brother, Gus, who had died in a fire at the Lassiter's Complex in late 2004. He got in contact with Izzy Hoyland, who had once dated Gus when she lived in Erinsborough and was now living in London, and he began to piece together what had happened. After returning to Australia on a false passport, Victor met with his other sibling, Laura, who told him that Paul Robinson had confessed to Gus' murder in 2007, though he'd never been charged as, due to a brain tumour, his behaviour and confession could both have been brought into question. Unable to deal with Paul getting away with killing Gus, an unhinged Victor decided to get revenge and shot Paul's niece, Kate Ramsay, killing her. As Kate had no enemies of her own, it was initially thought that her murder was connected to her fiance, Mark Brennan, a former detective. But as other suspects were ruled out, CCTV footage was found of Victor burying something in the mulch in Kyle Canning's builder's yard, and Izzy's young daughter Holly identified him when she saw the photos.

With the connection to Paul established, giving Victor a strong motive for killing Kate, the police began hunting for him, with little luck. Laura then came forward, explaining that she'd seen Victor and knew of an old factory where he could be hiding out. The police immediately visited the location, and although they didn't find Victor, there was plenty of evidence that he'd been there, with numerous newspaper clippings about Paul covering the walls, and Kate's face circled on one of them. With the police no closer to finding Victor, a guilty Paul decided to try and track him down himself. After a small box containing some ashes and the Lassiter's logo was left on Kate's grave, Paul returned with a bunch of flowers, with a note inside for Victor. The pair then started communicating, and arranged to meet up, with Paul obtaining a gun to take with him, and the police, along with Brennan, hot on his trail.

As Paul listened to Victor talk about how much he missed his brother, and how Gus' presence at his trial might have prevented him from getting a long prison sentence, he attempted to end things, offering Victor a bag of money to disappear. Victor, however, wasn't about to make it that easy for Paul and started taunting him, saying Kate's name over and over again, making Paul realise that it was, and always would be, his fault that she'd died. As Paul finally snapped and reached for the gun, Brennan stopped him just in time, closely followed by the police. Victor was taken in for questioning, where he admitted killing Kate, and also apologised to Brennan, but told him to make sure that Paul never forgot that he'd killed Gus - and that was why Kate had also died.

Trivia Notes
• Richard Sutherland returned in 2024 as Justin Ashton
• For his appearance in episode 6856, Richard Sutherland was credited as Customer to avoid his real identity being given away, though in the UK broadcast of the episode, his full name was given, effectively spoiling the outcome of the story
• Although credited for episodes 6900 and 6901, Victor was only shown in CCTV footage and photographs