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Guest Character Profiles > Greg Murphy Gary Sweet

When recently qualified cop Cara Varga-Murphy found herself caught up in investigating a local crimewave, she was certain that the Linwell brothers - who had gone to prison a couple of years earlier after she reported their unsafe work practices - were somehow involved. Unfortunately, when journalist Elle Robinson returned to town, having been fired from her job in New York, she was desperate to find a big story to get her a job at online newspaper The Daily Monster, and when she saw the police report at Cara's house, she decided to expose the story. Elle justified her actions, saying that the police believed that the criminals had someone on the inside of the government, known as Jonesy, and that the public deserved to know about the corruption that was going on. However, the story, though it didn't mention any names, led the Linwells straight to Cara, who started receiving threats and it was decided that her family - estranged wife, Remi and their two sons, JJ and Dex - should be sent away from Ramsay Street.

With Remi, JJ and Dex staying with Remi's dad, Ken, in Apollo Bay, Cara became concerned when her dad, Greg, who'd been away on a solo camping trip, failed to answer his phone. With her mum and sister on the Gold Coast, Cara and her friend and colleague Andrew Rodwell decided to go to the campsite and check that everything was alright. There, they found Greg knocked out cold in his caravan with a head wound, and when he came to, he explained that he didn't know who had attacked him but they'd mentioned Cara's name. Cara decided that, following a trip to hospital, her dad was going to come home with her so that she could keep an eye on him. Greg reluctantly went along with this, but as father and daughter spent time together, the distance between them was obvious and Cara realised that it wasn't going to be easy to get back the close relationship they'd had when she was young.

With encouragement from Cara's friend, Nicolette, Greg finally decided to open up to his daughter and some of his behaviour recently. He took her out for a beer and a game of pool and told her that, having had to retire early from his job in construction due to back problems, he'd realised that he'd messed up his finances and he didn't have enough money for his retirement. Rather than ask for help, he'd started spending more time on his own and living cheaply off grid, allowing Cara's mum to maintain her lifestyle. Happy that her dad had finally been honest with her, things started to improve between them and they made plans to work on making a bird house together. But behind Cara's back, Greg was spending time with Elle, who had come to the house with an apology food hamper and been thrown out by Cara. When Greg then went to see her, he explained that he accepted Elle's apology and she was grateful, having been ostracised by most other people on the street. She offered Greg her number if he ever needed anything, and it wasn't long before they bumped into each other again and went for a coffee at The 82 tram cafe. As they left, Greg went back inside to get his jacket and it seemed that Elle had made even more enemies than she'd realised, as a car came speeding down Power Road, heading straight for her.

Greg was quick to pull Elle out of the way to safety, earning him a great deal of gratitude from her family and the police, particularly as he had miraculously remembered the make and number plate of the car. With the police looking for the car in question, they tracked it down and found a hard drive inside, believing that it could be the key piece of evidence that they were looking for. However, it turned out that the whole thing was a set-up and that Greg was actually working for the Linwells, using his closeness to Cara, and now to Elle, to find out how the investigation was going, before reporting the information back to Tania Linwell, as well as her stooges, Ricky and Jax. As an increasingly guilty Greg continued to play both sides, he soon had cause for concern when Cara told him that JJ was going to come home to finish year 12 and that his father, Felix, would be moving to Ramsay Street to keep an eye on him. As Felix was a reformed criminal himself, and had moved in similar circles to the Linwells, Greg worried that he might not be able to hide the truth for much longer.

When Felix returned to Erinsborough the following week, Greg was immediately unsettled when JJ suggested that he could move into the Varga-Murphy house, rather than staying across the street with Andrew and his wife, Wendy. Though he showed no objections at first, Greg later voiced his concerns when he had Cara on her own, suggesting that he barely knew the man and wasn't sure about him living at no. 30 with them, explaining that he wanted to spend some time alone with his grandson. Cara understood his point and, much to Greg's relief, it was then agreed that Felix would stay with his own family.

Later that day, Greg met up with Tania again, pointing out that he'd done everything she asked, providing information about the police investigation and getting Elle to stop her stories, and he now wanted her to keep her side of the bargain - that the Linwells would promise not to harm Cara and her family. When Tania said that she couldn't do that, Greg realised that he would need to take more decisive action and he got hold of a gun. With Felix noticing Greg's odd behaviour, he followed him to a meeting with Ricky Denham, where Greg asked Ricky for help with getting out of the clutches of the Linwell family. Ricky warned him that there was no way out now and an increasingly desperate Greg then returned to Ramsay Street, where he found Felix going through his car, coming very close to finding the gun. When Felix then explained that he'd seen Greg talking to Ricky, Greg claimed that he'd known the man from Werribee and had bumped into him so had taken the opportunity to warn him off, telling him to get the Linwells to stay away from Cara.

With Felix asking a lot of questions, a nervous Greg realised that he had more to worry about when he found out that Cara was still investigating the Linwells, convinced that they were trading in stolen guns to make their money after finding a used bullet casing in one of the warehouses. When Greg met with Ricky again, he was informed that Tania was aware that one of the guns had been taken and, by a process of elimination, Ricky was sure that Greg had taken it. Greg admitted that he'd taken it to give himself some protection, but it was now proving to just be a liability, so he arranged to leave it back at the warehouse. However, before he could do this, Felix found it in his bag and gave it to Andrew, who quickly made the connection and confronted Greg about his connections to the Linwells. Greg, however, turned the tables on Andrew, telling him that he'd seen him with neighbour Holly Hoyland and had worked out that Andrew was cheating on his wife, Wendy, with her. He warned that, if Andrew took the gun to the police, then he'd tell Wendy about his suspicions. Realising that his personal life was more important to him than his profession, Andrew decided to risk his police career and give the gun back to Greg, who pointed out that they were both just trying to protect their families.

A few days later, Cara and Greg were alarmed to see Tania hanging around Lassiters again, but this time with Eric and Dale, who'd been granted parole. As the three of them taunted Cara and Tania referred to her as 'Shed Girl', Eric made it clear to Greg that they had their eye on him. When Greg later asked Cara about Tania's name calling, she opened up about her experiences at high school, when she'd come out to Tania, her best friend at the time and, after initially being find with it, she'd suddenly turned on her and told the whole school, warning the other girls that Cara would try and take them behind the shelter shed. Cara told her dad how she'd had to put up with the bullying for the rest of her time at school and, when they later saw Tania in the complex, she decided to confront her. She pointed out that, whilst she was now proud of her life and who she was, she doubted that Tania could stay the same, telling her that it was sad that she was still holding on to teenage insults. When Eric and Dale then turned up, asking if they were going to stay at the hotel, Tania told them that it was full and they'd have to go elsewhere, before beating a hasty retreat. Proud of his daughter, but concerned about the effect the Linwells were having on her both personally and professionally, Greg began to wonder if his presence was truly putting his family in danger. After asking Felix, who confirmed that he felt that Greg was a danger to Cara and her family, he decided that it might be best if he disappeared from Erinsborough.

Episodes Featured
9314, 9315, 9318, 9319, 9320, 9321, 9325, 9326, 9327, 9329, 9330, 9331, 9335

Biography by Steve

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