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Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Jean Halliday Esme Melville

Jean Halliday 1993

When teacher Wayne Duncan was wrongly kidnapped by a group of thugs hired by Lou Carpenter to scare of Stephen and Phoebe Gottlieb’s lodger, Russell Butler, he became intent on getting revenge. He found out that the leader of a local biker gang, named Cactus, was responsible for the beating and tracked him down. When Cactus was later found murdered, Wayne immediately became a suspect and, since he’d mentioned going to see Cactus, he found it difficult to prove his innocence. Things only got worse for him when a witness, Jean Halliday, came forward and immediately identified Wayne in a police line-up. Wayne realised that, on the day he had been to Cactus’ home, it was raining, and Jean was carrying an umbrella, but, on the day of the murder, it was sunny. Despite everyone around him, including his girlfriend Gaby Willis, doubting it, Wayne protested his innocence and tried to convince Jean that she was wrong, first by sending Gaby to speak to her, then by calling her and pretending to be a reporter. In the end, however, the case against Wayne was suddenly dropped when another biker admitted to murdering Cactus.

Notes: Esme Melville previously played Mrs York in 1986 and returned as Moina Beresford in 1994 and in 2002 in the recurring role of Rose Belker.

Click here to read our interview with Esme, and here to read our tribute to her

Biography by Steve

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