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Guest Character Profiles > Pete Ferguson Kristin Holland

Pete Ferguson 2008

Whilst in prison, Steve Parker found himself victimised and, after fighting back, he left one guy, Nick, badly injured. When Steve was released on appeal soon after, he was followed home by one of Nick's mates, Pete Ferguson, who told Steve that he was going to get revenge. Though Steve warned him off, Pete then turned up at their local bar, Charlie's, watching Steve with his family. After being dragged out of the building by Steve, Pete continued his warnings and, after meeting Steve's sister-in-law Nicola West, he broadened his threat to include the rest of the Parker family. As Nicola found out the truth about Steve's beating, he did his best to keep it from his wife Miranda, but when Pete confronted him, Miranda and Nicola at Lassiter's the next day and Steve physically threatened him to keep away, the whole story came out.

Pete continued to quietly terrorise the Parkers, following Steve around the local area, in the days that followed, gloating that Steve would find himself back in jail following his sentencing the next day. However, Steve ended up with a fine and community service and, whilst everyone else celebrated at the bar, Miranda headed home to prepare for a party. Pete followed, letting himself into the house, where he intimidated Miranda, threatened to harm her and Steve's daughter Bridget and told her about Nick, who was now so badly injured, it seemed that he would never have children of his own. Just as Pete seemed like he was going to take his anger out on Miranda, the phone rang and she managed to raise the alarm with Steve, before grabbing a cricket bat from the laundry. As she threatened him with her weapon, Pete struggled to take her seriously, but then the rest of the family turned up, and Steve shouted at Pete to get out, warning him that if he ever returned, they'd contact the police, with everyone in the room able to act as a witness to him breaking into the house and threatening Miranda.

Several weeks later, Steve's vet clinic was broken into, and Pete turned up at the hospital, where nurse Nicola quickly put two and two together. Pete denied any involvement, but Nicola was convinced of his guilt, and withheld his pain medication until he finally admitted to his crime and gave the police a statement. Angered by Nicola's actions, he turned on her when she was giving him his injections and, during the tussle, she suffered a needlestick injury, leaving her panicking over what undiagnosed diseases Pete might have. When Pete refused to take a blood test and find out, Nicola went into his room whilst he was sleeping and illegally took the blood. A few days later, Pete was informed by Dr Karl Kennedy that he was HIV positive, but was even more annoyed to realise that the tests had been done without his permission, though Karl tried to play down his grievances. Pete announced that he was going to sue the hospital, before heading to the Erinsborough News, where he demanded to speak to someone and share his story. Unfortunately, the journalist he ended up speaking to was Karl's wife, Susan, who was desperate to cover it up, but the conversation was overheard by Elle Robinson and she insisted on interviewing Pete. However, when Susan reminded Elle that Karl had once helped her when she needed it, she agreed to help, and they decided that Susan would pay Pete for his story, so the newspaper editor, Paul, need never find out. They then handed over the cheque to Pete and made his sign a contract, before printing the story in a small column in the back of the newspaper.

Pete was furious and went to see Paul, who decided that the story was worth telling and agreed to run a front page feature on it. Elle and Susan were horrified, and managed to convince Paul that the legal implications could be serious, particularly as the hospital was still making enquiries and Karl and Nicola could be found to be innocent. Paul quickly backed down, angering Pete further and he decided to take that anger out on Susan and Elle, waiting to surprise them in the car as they left work that evening. Pete then forced Elle to drive to West Waratah and, from the car, he contacted Paul and made his demands - he wanted his story on the front page of the next day's newspaper in return for Elle and Susan's safety. Paul reluctantly agreed to give in to the blackmail, while Pete forced Elle and Susan to sit with him in the car until the next morning, as they waited for the Erinsborough News to be dropped off at a newsagency. Taking Susan with him to pick up one of the newspapers, Pete was stunned when the headline read 'Manhunt for kidnapper! Reward offered!'. With Pete distracted, Susan took the opportunity to knee him in the groin and ran back to get Elle, who was struggling with panic attacks and wasn't quick enough as Pete pushed her back into the car. Pete then phoned Paul with his next demand - he would give Elle back if Steve Parker was brought to him. Steve quickly agreed to go, but Miranda and Nicola followed, worried about what he was getting himself into. Nicola, desperate to win back her family's respect, suggested a plan to her sister and, once the exchange was complete and Pete was leading Steve back to the car, Miranda approached them. Once she'd distracted Pete, Nicola leapt on him, giving Steve the chance to get free and grab Pete, just as the police arrived to take him away.

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