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Guest Character Profiles > Dean Covey Travis Cotton

Dean Covey 2022
Occupation: Hospital Cleaner

Hospital cleaner Dean Covey was invited along to a housewarming party at 24 Ramsay Street by Dr David Tanaka, and, having just broken up with his boyfriend, Keith, and feeling lonely, he was happy to attend. The party was being thrown by David's sister-in-law Chloe Brennan and her housemates and Dean did his best to fit in, before accidentally knocking a drink all over David's husband, Aaron. As Dean was helping to get the stain out of Aaron's shirt, he mentioned the marital problems that David and Aaron had been going through recently, with Aaron horrified to realise that David had been telling a colleague about many of the private details of their marriage.

The following week, with David trying to focus on his marriage and not answering Dean's calls, Dean approached another of their colleagues, Dr Karl Kennedy, who he knew was also a neighbour of David and Aaron. As Dean spoke about their marital problems, Karl insisted that it was nothing serious and it wouldn't lead to them splitting up like Dean and his ex. Dean, however, was already beginning to see his friendship with David as something more, writing little notes in the books that they were exchanging with other, and offering him comfort over his marital problems. When Aaron then found out about the notes in the books, he felt that it was inappropriate and an argument broke out. When David later arrived at work, Dean took the opportunity to get him to open up about his problems, and when David brought up Aaron's suggestions that Dean was interested in more than just friendship, Dean denied everything. He put his arm around David as he opened up about everything, but they were spotted by Aaron, who had turned up to apologise to his husband, but was horrified to see Dean and David together and ended up attacking Dean.

As David was made to see that him sharing his love of literature with another man was making Aaron feel inadequate, he donated the books to the local community lending library and kept his distance from Dean. When they then ran into each other at work, David did his best to be polite but avoided spending time with Dean until he finally cornered him. With Dean trying to get David to admit that there were problems in his marriage, he leaned in and tried to kiss him, but David quickly ducked out of the way, making it clear that it wasn't what he wanted. David then left an upset Dean behind and headed off to a getaway at River Bend, where Aaron had already gone. It was during their time at River Bend that David and his colleague, nurse Freya Wozniak, left Freya's ex-boyfriend, Gareth Bateman, to die. Gareth had attacked Aaron and left him for dead, then been left badly injured in a road accident and, as he was struggling to breath, David and Freya had allowed him to die rather than save his life.

Back in Erinsborough, David and Freya were struggling to deal with their shared secret, while, at the hospital, Aaron was recovering, annoyed to see Dean constantly loitering outside his room. Though David tried to get rid of him, Dean had convinced himself that Aaron was controlling and that David was unable to leave his marriage, eventually going to Aaron and telling him about his near kiss with David. With Dean still refusing to listen to David's insistence that nothing would ever happen between them, not to mention hurting Aaron's recovery, David made an official complaint, leaving an upset Dean with an official warning and restricted from working on the same ward as David.

Several days later, as he continued his recovery, Aaron received a visit from Mick Allsop, a man who had once stalked him, but who had come with a warning. He explained that he'd just been on a terrible date with Dean, and that all he could talk about was David. Then when David started receiving threatening notes, blackmailing him about the Gareth Bateman incident, he remembered that, when he and Freya were talking about it a week earlier in the Lassiters complex, Dean had happened to be walking closely behind them. Suspecting that he was behind the blackmail, David angrily confronted Dean at the hospital, telling him to leave him alone. Dean insisted that he had moved on with his life and, whatever David was talking about, he had nothing to do with it. As the blackmail continued, David remained convinced that Dean was behind it, particularly when he overheard parts of a conversation between Mick and Dean. When he then heard Mick on the phone to someone, talking about a payment that was due, he decided to confront him, but Mick explained that it was just his pay for work that was late, and his earlier conversation with Dean had been because Dean was trying to win him back after their unsuccessful date.

With Aaron now aware of what was going on and trying to support his husband, he, David and Freya were trying to raise the money to pay the blackmailer, who was insisting that they would go to the police if they weren't paid on time. When David spotted Dean driving a brand new car, he was finally tipped over the edge and, after almost attacking Dean, he had to be dragged away by Aaron and Freya when he started keying the car. When Aaron and David's pool was then dyed red like blood, David decided that it had to be revenge for the car keying and went to Dean's house to try and get him to stop. Dean once again acted like he had no idea what David was talking about, pointing out that David was the one who'd been harassing him for weeks, turning up at his house and keying his car. As he came to his senses, David realised that it was all becoming too much and that he and Freya had to go to the police. Unfortunately, when they went to speak to hospital C.O.O. Clive Gibbons, they were surprised to find the police waiting, as they blackmailer had already reported them to the medical board. As they were questioned at the police station, David told them everything that had happened with Gareth, then explained that he was worried for his safety, and that of his family, as Dean Covey was blackmailing him. Dean was then brought in for questioning, and insisted that he was innocent, as he slowly realised what had been going on and what David had been accusing him of. Outside the police station as he left, Dean ran into David, Aaron and Freya and angrily confronted David, saying that he'd only ever wanted to support him and be his friend, and he couldn't believe that David would ever suspect him of doing something so awful. It was then that David spotted someone else loitering nearby, Oscar Russell, a doctor who'd been deregistered a few months earlier after a complaint from David, and it came out that Oscar was the one who'd been blackmailing him all along.

Episodes Featured
8792, 8796, 8799, 8805, 8806, 8815, 8821, 8824, 8827, 8828, 8829

Biography by Steve

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