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Character Profiles > Paul Robinson Stefan Dennis

Paul Stewart Robinson 1985-1992, 1993, 2004-
Lives: Lassiter's Hotel
Lived: 22, 26, 30 Ramsay Street, Karl's apartment
Born: 1963
Parents: Jim and Anne Robinson
Marital Status: Terry Inglis (1985-1986; divorced), Gail Lewis (1987-1989; divorced), Christina Alessi (1991-?; divorced), Lyn Scully (2006; annulled), Rebecca Napier (2009-2011; divorced), Terese Willis (2019-; separated)
Siblings: Julie, Scott, Glen, Jill and Lucy
Children: Leo, David, Amy, Cameron, 'Elle' Lucinda, Robert and Andrew
Family Tree: Robinson
Occupation: Engineering Student, Air Steward, Manager of The Daniels Corporation, Manager/Owner/Employee of Lassiter's Hotel, Manager/Owner of The Robinson Corporation, Owner of The Helen Daniels Trust, Teacher at Erinsborough High School, Owner/Editor of the Erinsborough News

The eldest son of Jim and Anne Robinson, Paul Robinson was born in Erinsborough in 1963. Paul started out in life a quiet academic and was destined to follow his father into the family engineering firm. However, he shocked his father when he dropped out of university half way through his engineering degree to become an airline steward. It was here Paul met and fell in love with his supervisor, Gail Lewis. The relationship never fully developed and after Paul quit the airline, he proposed to plumber's assistant Terry Inglis after a whirlwind romance. They married at a ceremony held at Paul's family home, No. 26 Ramsay Street. Jim rented No. 30, two doors down, as a wedding present to the couple. But domestic bliss wasn't to last - it turned out that Terry had a criminal past and had murdered her ex. After Paul realised Terry had murdered, he confronted her about his suspicions, and she shot him in the shoulder, before doing a runner. However, the police had closed in on her just as she was about to flee and Terry was arrested, before committing suicide in jail some time later.

Paul's experiences with Terry left him bitter and hard headed - just the qualities that led to his aunt Rosemary Daniels appointing him manager of the Australian end of her company, The Daniels Corporation. Here, Paul found his niche in life - the world of corporate takeovers, lucrative business deals and the financial rewards of running a world-renowned hotel complex. He quickly built up The Daniels Corporation and employed Zoe Davis as his secretary but when she began a relationship with his father - 20 years Zoe's senior - Paul took a dislike to her and made her life at work hell for a while. As it turned out, Paul was actually in love with Zoe. But even though she had finished with Jim, Paul never got the chance to tell Zoe how he felt as she left Erinsborough with an old flame.

Paul replaced Zoe with brash Madge Ramsay but he soon realised she would be better suited running the hotel bar, The Waterhole. Her replacement was single mother Susan Cole who Paul fell for in a big way. Susan was lodging with zany Clive Gibbons at No. 22 Ramsay Street, and Clive was madly in love with Susan. But she only saw Clive as a friend, and was much more attracted to the excitement Paul had to offer. They started seeing each other for a few months, but after they split up, Susan got engaged to Clive. Despite this, Susan and Paul kissed one day at the office, making Susan realise that she could never be happy with Clive. When Clive found out that Susan still cared for Paul, a wedge was driven between the two men that lasted for years to come. Susan, meanwhile, was so ashamed for having hurt Clive that she left Erinsborough. Paul was now faced with the task of finding a secretary once again - and this time found the reliable and dependable Jane Harris, who served him faithfully for a number of years.

Gail Lewis walked back into his life when she successfully applied for the job of assistant manager at The Daniels Corporation. At first, their relationship was platonic although both were clearly in love with the other. Fate stepped in when Paul had the chance of an extremely lucrative business deal with Japanese businessman Mr.Udugawa. But Mr.Udugawa, it seemed, only liked to do his business with happily married men so Paul asked Gail to marry him for the sake of the business deal. Gail agreed and the couple married, much to the bewilderment of their families who had no idea Paul and Gail were even dating. The couple moved into No.22 Ramsay Street but slept in separate bedrooms. Their secret was nearly exposed when Cousin Hilary stayed with the two and caught them sleeping in separate bedrooms. But they managed to explain it away as a row and Hilary was none the wiser. Eventually, the two realised how much they loved eachother, and Paul stopped Gail from leaving Erinsborough to take a job with Rosemary in New York so that they could give their marriage a real chance. A short time after, they renewed their wedding vows at Jim's wedding to Beverly Marshall, as a sign of their true commitment to each other.

The marriage hit a rocky patch when Nina Williams, an old flame of Paul's from his airline days arrived in Erinsborough with her three year old daughter, Amy, who she revealed was Paul's daughter. Gail, who desperately wanted children but was unable to conceive, thought that Amy would make Paul lose interest in considering adoption or IVF treatment. But instead Paul proved he was strongly committed to the idea of having children with Gail, and he and Gail underwent an intensive IVF treatment programme hoping to conceive. Eventually, Gail and Paul were thrilled to learn that Gail was pregnant with triplets. But throughout the pregnancy, Paul became more and more interested in his work, especially since he had recently bought the corporation and complex himself, renaming it The Robinson Corporation. The final blow to the Robinsons' marriage came with the death of Gail's beloved father, Rob, in a car accident. Gail blamed Paul for Rob's death because he had been involved in a heated argument with Rob at the Robinson house, which led to Rob storming off in his car in the middle of a bad storm. And when Paul went into the office after Rob's funeral, Gail decided that the marriage was over. Unable to cope with life in Erinsborough anymore, a heavily pregnant Gail packed her bags and left Paul for a new life in Tasmania where she gave birth to two sons, Cameron and Robert and a daughter, Lucinda. Paul flew to Tasmania on the birth of the children and agreed to divorce Gail and let her marry the new man in her life. Paul returned to Erinsborough distraught at the idea of another man raising his kids, although he and Gail had parted friends and she agreed to let him see the triplets whenever he liked.

Paul coped with the end of his second marriage by burying himself in his work. He moved into a suite at Lassiter's and leased out No. 22 to his new assistant Caroline Alessi and her twin sister, Christina, who ended up falling in love with him. But Paul was oblivious to her feelings and instead sought comfort in the arms of his new secretary, Melanie Pearson, when the two had a one-night stand.

After a business trip to Argentina, Paul met and fell in love with the scheming Isabella Lopez. He brought Isabella back to Erinsborough and Chrissie took an instant dislike to her, seeing through the cunning money grabber immediately. She eventually proved to Paul that Isabella was only after his money and he sent Isabella packing. Chrissie now thought the way was clear for her and Paul to get together but instead Paul vowed he was staying away from women in future. Despite this, love finally blossomed for the two and they eventually became engaged. After a short engagement they married and quickly decided to try for a child. When Chrissie got pregnant, Paul was thrilled and vowed to be a proper father to this child. Paul was so determined that everything about this child should be perfect, he planned the route that he and Chrissie would take when she goes into labour weeks before the baby was due. But the one thing Paul didn't allow for was running out of petrol, and his car came to a dead stop in a deserted country road as Chrissie was in the throes of labour. After spotting an ice-cream van nearby, Paul persuaded the driver to take him and Christina to the hospital in it, and not long after getting safely to the hospital, Chrissie gave birth to a baby boy, Andrew.

Paul's new found joy was disturbed, however, when his business empire looked set to collapse around him.Glen Donnelly - the half-brother who Paul had refused to accept ever since he showed up in Erinsborough a few months prior - had fallen off the hotel roof at Lassiter's, while he was fixing a banner as a favour for Paul and ended up being paralysed from the waist down. With The Robinson Corporation already facing financial difficulties, Paul - determined to avoid legal action over the fall - was forced to sell a small share in the corporation to Madge for $20,000 and offered the money to his estranged half-brother to help him with his future. But when Paul attempted to have Glen sign a document wavering his rights to sue The Robinson Corporation, a furious Glen lashed out at Paul and threatened to sue him for a massive settlement. Paul tried everything he could to prevent Glen going ahead with his case, even trying to bribe his cousin Todd - who had witnessed Glen's fall - to testify against Glen in court. Glen finally accepted a substantial out-of-court settlement and left Erinsborough. Paul turned to a shady moneylender in an attempt to save his business and when it looked like he would lose everything, he even contemplated suicide. Chrissie found herself alone with the baby after the stress of recent events caused Paul to suffer a nervous breakdown, resulting in him going away to recuperate.

He returned to Erinsborough with daughter Amy in tow and a feud developed between Amy and stepmother Christina. They eventually made up after Amy was knocked down and she soon returned to live with her mother. Paul and Christina's marriage looked destined to end when Paul and sister-in-law Caroline realised they had feelings for eachother and slept together. Caroline was so upset with what she had done to her twin sister that she left Erinsborough hastily for Milan. Chrissie was puzzled by her sister's sudden departure and was shocked to find out the truth by overhearing Paul discuss the affair with his grandmother, Helen. Christina promptly threw Paul out in disgust and started divorce proceedings. But after months of persuasion and the death of Paul's cousin Todd, they realised they should make a fresh start. Paul was offered the chance to manage a luxury hotel resort in Hawaii and after renewing their wedding vows, Paul and Chrissie left Erinsborough with Andrew for a new life.

Paul returned a year later to visit Helen but had to make a hasty exit when he got his brother-in-law Philip Martin involved in a fraud scandal. Paul called Chrissie in Hawaii and told her to fly to Brazil with Andrew and wait for him there. Paul then signed a letter of confession to the police taking full responsibility and bid his beloved gran Helen a tearful goodbye before fleeing Ramsay Street for Brazil.

After four years avoiding the inevitable, Paul returned to Australia to face the music. He spent the next three years in jail, his marriage to Christina breaking down in the process, as well as the death of his beloved grandmother Helen occuring. The whole experience made him even more embittered than ever before, and when he was released, he worked hard at rebuilding his former empire.

Paul finally returned to his home town of Erinsborough in late 2004, just as the Lassiter's complex was burning to the ground. Having evidently returned just in the nick of time, Paul kicked started the task of rebuilding the shattered community by paying for the use of the town hall as a make shift Coffee Shop and Pub while the complex was rebuilt. And he reclaimed Lassiter's has his own when he beat off the American firm Affirmacon to buy the complex. That company's representative in Australia, Lee Thomas, recognised Paul's good head for business and offered him a job with Affirmacon. However, Paul kept this detail from the rest of Erinsborough as he was keen to project an image of favouring the local, smaller businesses rather than corporate giants from overseas.

Although many people had come and gone in the years since Paul had last lived in Erinsborough, Harold Bishop was still around, as was his son David, who Paul immediately took under his wing. David had recently decided to run for local council and Paul, recognising that it would be useful to have his very own puppet when it came to matters of local politics, became David's pseudo-campaign manager. Indeed, it was Paul who actually secured David a seat on the council by calling in a favour in the eleventh hour just as it looked like David was about to lose. However, Paul came to be frustrated by a lot of the decisions David made in terms of town planning and quickly began to regret his choice of puppet.

Meanwhile, David's wife Liljana had caught Paul's eye the moment he met her, especially since he felt she shared a lot of the same qualities as Helen. It was the latter point which led Paul to offer Liljana the job of managing The Helen Daniels Trust, a philanthropic organisation that he had set up in memory of his gran to provide grants to needy causes. The role meant that Liljana and Paul would be spending a lot of time together, although it hurt Paul that she seemed totally devoted to David and he could only admire her from afar.

Another local lady also attracted Paul's attention upon his return, and she was much more reciprocating to his advances. Izzy Hoyland had been running the Coffee Shop with Harold, but decided to invest in the new pub with her brother Max after the fire at Lassiter's. However, Izzy couldn't raise enough capital to invest and so, Paul stepped in and offered her a loan. Paul also came onto Izzy on a number of occasions, but she initially resisted due to the fact that she was already involved with local GP Karl Kennedy. To add to the confusion, Karl had an in-built disdain for Paul, on account of his good friendship with Philip and hearing all about Paul's framing of Phil for fraud. However, Karl's mistrust of Paul only added to the thrill of the chase for Paul and it made him more determined to bed Izzy. The opportunity finally arose when Karl went to Sydney for a medical conference and Izzy finally succumbed to Paul's advances. Izzy was then racked with guilt over her betrayal of Karl, but Paul managed to persuade him to continue seeing him after making it clear that he was in no way interested in breaking up her and Karl and merely wanted a bit of fun.

Paul's feelings for Liljana, meanwhile, continued to grow and he started pulling out all the stops to ruin her marriage to David. When David was supposed to be with Lil at daughter Serena's school debate, Paul instead turned up, knowing that David was otherwise engaged, playing golf. And Paul also encouraged David to invest in a business scheme with an associate, despite Liljana's objections. Of course, Liljana remained unaware that Paul was the driving force behind David's actions and actually turned to Paul for support and advice on more than one occasion.

Paul's involvement with Affirmacon, meanwhile, led to him getting embroiled in all sorts of shady deals and practices when the development giants revealed they wanted to level Ramsay Street and the surrounding suburb in order to build a giant shopping complex. Paul was set the task of manipulating the residents into selling their properties, but realising what a hard task it would be, he hatched an elaborate plan to take the decision out of their hands. Unbeknown to the council, Paul was behind an environmental report that had come to their attention which predicted a very bleak future for the neighbourhood. The report revealed that a rapidly rising water level in Erinsborough West meant that within ten years, the entire area would be under water. Although many of the residents accepted the terrible findings, Harold was adamant that a second investigation be done, and hired an independent environmental scientist to do some tests on the area. When Paul got wind of this, he dug up some dirt on the scientists past and blackmailed him into supporting the findings of the original report. With both reports therefore predicting a grim future for the suburb, Paul's plan was starting to pay off and Affirmacon moved into position to get their hands on the area by offering to buy the houses from the locals. Paul's support for the company became clear at a local meeting to decide whether or not the offers should be accepted, and local opinion started to turn against him as he appeared to be putting profit before the good of the community. Paul initially rebuffed such claims, insisting that Erinsborough was where he grew up, but the likes of Harold and his granddaughter Sky Mangel – who had been suspicious of Paul from the moment he returned – remained sceptical.

David's eyes were open to Paul's manipulation, too, when Paul had him framed for defrauding The Helen Daniels Foundation. But Paul strenuously denied the allegations David was levelling against him, and things worked out in his favour when Liljana actually started to believe that David was guilty. The case was thrown out of court on a technicality, but the damage had been done to the Bishops' marriage by that stage and Lil left David. It wasn't long before Paul professed his love for Liljana and once she gave in to the feelings she had been harbouring for him for some time, they began seeing each other, initially in secret in order to spare the feelings of David and Serena.

Meanwhile, Paul's affair with Izzy threatened to expose him to all sorts of problems when she realised that he had burned down Lassiter's. However, Paul knew that Izzy had lied to Karl about the true parentage of the child she had miscarried, and so, neither could afford to have their secrets known. Although their affair ended, the pair remained linked by the secrets they each held, and as Paul's conscience started to increasingly take precedence over his dirty dealings, Izzy was on hand whenever he needed a shoulder to cry on. Indeed, Paul had begun to regret his recent behaviour as his love for Liljana grew and brought out the old Paul that had had been buried deep down underneath layers of bitterness and regret, and he gradually started to do what he could to scupper Affirmacon's plans for Erinsborough. Affirmacon took note of his softening attitude, and sent one of their heavies, Tony Corbett, to Erinsborough to keep an eye on Paul. Paul initially tried to persuade Tony that there were other areas that the company could build their shopping mall in, but Tony insisted that the plans were in motion now and Paul had to continue with what he had signed up for.

Polluting the local wetlands was therefore next on Paul's list, and he initially enlisted Dylan, the 18-year-old son of the rowdy Timmins family who were now living in Paul's old family home on Ramsay Street, to pour toxic chemicals into the river. Dylan had become Paul's protégé in the months following his return, after Paul recognised the same ambitious qualities in Dylan that he had when he was younger. But Paul's conscience once again got the better of him when he overheard Dylan defending Paul to Sky, and he opted to carry out the task himself. Once the deed was done, Paul realised too late that as well as polluting the water, he had also killed and poisoned the many different types of wildlife that inhabited the land and he was racked with guilt. And the guilt got a whole lot worse when Dylan – an animal lover – raced down to the wetlands to try and save some of the animals and ended up getting poisoned by the toxic waste himself. Being exposed to the waste left him with a higher chance of contracting cancer in later life, and Paul was horrified at being responsible for inflicting Dylan with the worry.

Dylan's predicament was the final straw for Paul. While publicly he had to continue with his support for Affirmacon and back their offer to purchase the ruined wetlands, privately he plotted to put a stop to their plans once and for all. He gave Dylan a key card to some Affirmacon offices in the city, and he and Sky managed to obtain some documents from the office that proved the company was corrupt. But they were unable to do anything with the documents because they had been obtained illegally. Paul suggested they pass the documents onto the press, who wouldn't have to reveal their sources, but problems arose when Sky, still determined to prove that Paul was up to no good, followed him around with a camera to try and catch him out. But what she caught him doing was something she hadn't expected – kissing Liljana. And while Sky was deciding what to do about the photographs, she had failed to notice that Serena had taken the camera to a protest the locals were holding outside the Affirmacon offices. It was there that David and Serena finally realised that Paul and Lil had been seeing each other when they saw the pictures themselves, and the vilification of Paul in the community increased tenfold as it transpired that on top of everything else, he had evidently broken up the Bishops once happy marriage too.

Lil opted to get away from Erinsborough for a few days in the wake of the fall-out from the revelations, while David was so furious with Paul that he attempted to run him over outside Lassiter's. Desperate to sort things out with Lil, Paul tracked her down to a country retreat and found that she was unsure of whether or not she could trust him anymore as it became more and more likely that Paul had been in Affirmacon's pocket all along. But Paul promised Lil that he was in love with her regardless of what else was going on in his life, and he managed to persuade her to go to Sydney with him for a few months to get away from everything. However, Affirmacon were on his case, and while Lil was getting ready to leave, Tony Corbett and some more heavies showed up on Ramsay Street and took Paul away to the bush to beat him up. Fearing for his life, Paul desperately tried to escape them but was chased to the edge of a cliff, before falling off it – 80 feet below.

Once he had regained consciousness, Paul was in complete agony, with a particularly substantial amount of pain in his right leg. Having mustered up the strength to drag himself along the ground, Paul finally found himself at some wetlands. But by that stage, he was hallucinating heavily and seeing visions of Liljana, and ended up in the water. Rapidly losing control of himself, Paul started to drown in the water - until Dylan and Sky appeared, having found his abandoned car nearby, and pulled him to safety. Sky revived Paul by giving him CPR, and he was rushed to hospital.

But Paul was by no means out of the woods. He required emergency surgery as a result of the internal injuries he had received from the fall, and his state of mind was not helped by the abscence of Liljana from his bedside. Lil had found out all about Paul's shady dealings after he had gone missing, and was disgusted by his behaviour. However, with Paul about to undergo a major operation to save his life, Liljana put on a brave face and went to see him to reassure him she loved him. But worse was to come. Paul had suffered a very bad break to his right leg as a result of the fall, and it had become badly infected, meaning the leg would have to be amputated if he wanted to survive. Paul refused to even entertain the suggestion that he lose his leg, and despite repeated attempts from Karl and Harold to talk him round, Paul resigned himself to death rather than live his life without one of his legs. However, Dylan was not prepared to stand by and let the man he idolised give up after everything he had been through, and as Paul began to fade away, Dylan forged Paul's signature on the consent form to allow the surgery take place.

When Paul was brought back from theatre and came round, he was horrified to discover that the amputation had taken place. He lashed out at everyone around him, even Liljana, and upon realising that Dylan had been the one who consented to the operation, Paul rejected him completely and directed abusive insults at him. But Dylan kept coming back to visit Paul, determined that he would eventually see sense. He was joined by Harold, Karl, Susan and even Sky in trying hard to persuade Paul to begin physiotherapy and embrace the second chance he had been given. Paul finally conceded that Dylan had acted in his interests and started to spend time with him, and even agreed to let Dylan bring him to Lassiter's for a drink one afternoon. But when Dylan left him alone outside the pub for a second, Paul became frantic as he became aware of the fact that the people around the complex that he had been in complete control of where now looking at him with pity.

Again striving for a way out of his misery, Paul saw another opportunity to end things once and for all when David - who had just signed up as a volunteer with the Salvation Army - had to bring him out for some fresh air one afternoon. Paul relentlessly taunted David about how much Lil loved him and how passionate their relationship had been and suceeded in pushing David to the edge just at the right moment. Once they reached the top of a steep hill, Paul told David he now had the chance to erase him out of the Bishop family's lives forever by simply letting go of the wheelchair. David had been so enraged by the comments Paul had made that in a moment of madness, he let go and Paul went hurtling down the hill headed straight for a busy freeway. But at the last second, Paul realised that he didn't want to die at all and lept from the chair just in time. The incident led Paul to re-evaluate his attitude to life and his new circumstances, and he began by begging Liljana for one final chance. But she told him she could never trust him or love him again and there was no future for them.

Paul's spirits were lifted hugely when Lucy returned to Erinsborough, although he was less pleased to see Rosemary, who he hadn't seen since he tried to take over her company several years back. Lucy and Rosemary had come back to Australia to attend a screening of a special documentary Annalise Hartman had made about Ramsay Street, but Rosemary also used the trip as a chance to offer to buy Lassiter's back from Paul. Paul initially refused to consider his aunt's offer, but after Lucy brought Paul to Lassiter's for a drink, he had a change of heart. It was while in The Scarlet Bar that Paul came face to face with someone else he had wronged – Philip, who was also back in town for the documentary. Finally seeing Paul in the flesh for the first time since he had framed him, Phil had to be held back by Lou Carpenter and Doug Willis, while Paul also had to contend with a verbal assault from Serena. The altercations made Paul give up on the idea of staying in Erinsborough and he decided to accept Rosemary's offer. But Lucy wasn't convinced that her brother had made the right decision, and put pressure on Paul to start facing up to his responsibilities and stop running away. Lucy made Paul realise that it was time for him to make a proper home for himself in Erinsborough once more, and encouraged him to move back into No.22 – which he had bought back after his initial return to the neighbourhood - and retain Lassiter's. And Lucy also succeeded in helping Paul face the biggest hurdle – wearing his prosthetic leg for the first time and start adapting to his new circumstances.

There was shock on the faces of the residents of Ramsay Street when Paul showed up on crutches and interrupted the barbecue that had been arranged as a pre-cursor to the documentary to announce that he was moving back into the street. Although Rosemary was disappointed to learn that Paul wouldn't be selling Lassiter's after all, she was happy to see him fight back once again and urged him to truly reform and start giving something back to their home town. Paul started trying to re-establish himself as part of the community by joining all the residents to view Annalise's documentary down at The Scarlet Bar, which was a true trip down memory lane as a host of former friends and family appeared on screen to reminisce about Ramsay Street – including Gail, who revealed that Paul may just have been the love of her life. After the documentary, Lucy agreed to stay on for a few more weeks to help Paul upon his release from hospital, and his return to Ramsay Street.

But Paul's reintegration into Ramsay Street wasn't going to be easy. With the Bishops next door, for starters, he wasn't about to get an enthusiastic welcome from his neighbours. Lou had also been renting No.22, and was forced to put his anger at Paul's recent behaviour behind him, in order to maintain the status quo in the household. But within days, Lou realised that he couldn't keep living with Paul, especially when he discovered that Paul had had an affair with Izzy some months back and Paul threatened to throw Lou out if he told anyone. Lou opted to leave immediately, rather than wait to be thrown out anyway, but he was so angered by Paul that he told half of Ramsay Street about the secret affair between Paul and Izzy. That evening, Paul and Lucy arrived home to find No.22 had been trashed with a warning for Paul to get out of town spray painted on the living room wall. Of course, there were a number of potential culprits, but Paul was quite surprised when Liljana admitted she had been the vandal, such was her anger towards Paul upon hearing he had been sleeping with Izzy around the same time he had been courting her. Paul took Lil's actions to mean she was still in love with him, but Lil insisted that she was reunited and happy with David once again.

Paul found himself attracting the attention of the police when Izzy went missing and her car was found abandoned in the bush, with blood stains on the driver's seat. Since Paul had been the last person to see her alive, as reported to the police by the bar staff at The Scarlet Bar, Paul was asked down to the police station to answer some questions about his relations with Izzy. To add to his troubles, Izzy's sleazy lawyer, Steve Chisholm, told Paul that if his client didn't turn up alive and well soon, he would have to open a box she had given him containing evidence of Paul's past crimes. Paul decided to take matters into his own hands and headed off to find Izzy himself, eventually tracking her down to a health farm in the bush. Izzy's life had fallen apart in recent months, due to Karl finding out that he was not the father of the baby she had miscarried, and she had nothing to return to Erinsborough for. But Paul recognised a kindred spirit in Izzy, and since she had been ostracised by the entire community too, he persuaded her to come back and live with him at No.22, where they could face the neighbours together. Izzy accepted Paul's offer, and her move into Ramsay Street caused quite a stir, particularly as she and Paul wickedly flaunted their arrangement by throwing a huge party. But the pair had some quick thinking to do when Steve Chisholm threatened to hand the box of secrets Izzy had on Paul over to the police, unless he was handsomely rewarded. Izzy hatched a plan to break into Steve's house to reclaim the box, and Paul consulted Dylan on how best to override the complicated alarm system Steve had on his house. Luckily, Paul and Izzy succeeded in their mission, and burnt the evidence once and for all.

As Izzy settled into No.22, Paul became increasingly concerned by her erratic behaviour. She was often moody and tired, and was flirting with everyone from Dylan to Paul himself. Paul eventually stumbled across the root of Izzy's problem when he found pills in her handbag and realised that she had become addicted to anti-depressants. Paul confronted Izzy about her addiction, which she strenuously denied and Izzy packed her bags to leave. But she had a change of heart when Paul admitted that he had begun to fall in love with her and wanted to help her through her ordeal. Izzy was touched that someone truly cared for her, and she agreed to stay and make a go of things with Paul. It took some time for Paul, however, to allow their relationship to become physical once again, as he had lost confidence in his body since losing his leg. But Izzy assured Paul that she found him attractive regardless, and she helped him put it out of his mind and reignite their sexual relationship.

Paul and Izzy's new found domestic bliss wasn’t to last for long, however, as Paul's estranged daughter Lucinda arrived in Erinsborough. Paul was thrilled to see Lucinda for the first time in years, and was mesmerised at the attractive young lady she had grown into. Desperate to make up for all the lost years, Paul invited Lucinda, or Elle as she was now known, to stay on at No.22 with him and Izzy, and he gave her a trainee position at the hotel. However, Elle wasn’t overly keen on Izzy and within hours of her moving in, the battle lines were drawn. Elle was desperate for her father's undivided attention, particularly after missing out on so much time with him growing up, and she set about trying to undermine Izzy at every opportunity. After discovering that Izzy had been recovering from an addiction to pills, Elle orchestrated an elaborate ruse whereby she manipulated situations and planted pills all over the house to suggest to Paul that Izzy was hooked once again. While Elle’s campaign initially worked, Izzy eventually became suspicious and managed to expose Elle to a furious Paul. But Paul felt so guilty about not being there enough for his daughter in the past that he agreed to put the incident behind them, and start afresh. Even Izzy agreed to start again, and Paul, Izzy and Elle went on to become an unlikely family unit, but one that actually worked pretty well.

With the 20th anniversary of the opening of Lassiter's Hotel approaching, Paul asked both Dylan and Elle to come up with proposals for a suitable event to mark the milestone. Although a battle to impress Paul waged between the two, few could argue with Dylan's suggestion to have a 1920s themed joy flight to Tasmania and Paul promptly picked his protégé's idea. Paul also saw the flight as a chance to mend some fences with a lot of his neighbours and friends, and as the plane set off, Paul was in jubilant form. However, a bomb had been planted in one of the engines and just as the plane was over the Bass Straits, it went off, sending the plane hurtling towards the sea. While Paul survived relatively unscathed, Izzy and Elle were initially nowhere to be found. They turned up safe and well within 24 hours, but Liljana, David and Serena weren't so lucky. David's body was found a few days later, while Lil and Serena's were never found. Paul was devastated by what had happened, and blamed himself for the death and destruction he had caused – particularly after Izzy revealed she had found a note in their seats moments before the plane crashed telling her to think about her life and everything she had done. Further evidence that the bomb had been directed against him was found when a second note arrived at No.22 telling Paul he had been lucky to escape. And as if the note hadn't sent enough of a chill down his spine, the paper it had been written on had been poisoned. Paul and Izzy were rushed to hospital where they were in a critical condition for a number of hours.

After they pulled through, Paul became obsessed with protecting himself and his family from any more harm. He had security cameras installed at No.22, hired a security guard and started working from home rather than the hotel. As the police conducted their investigations, Tony Corbett emerged as the prime suspect and there was relief all around when he was found dead a few weeks later. Safe in the knowledge that the person who had tried to kill him and his family was out of the picture, Paul threw a huge Christmas party for the residents of Ramsay Street at Lassiter's in an attempt to make amends and cheer everyone up after the dramatic period they had all been through. But one resident wasn't in the mood for forgiveness and festivities. Harold had become a broken man having lost his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in the plane crash, and when he found a letter David had written shortly before his death in which he blamed Paul for ruining his life and expressed a hope that someone would put an end to his evil some day, something in Harold snapped. He made his way over to No.22, crept quietly in as Paul was chatting on the phone to Cameron and with a rope, strangled Paul. Having left Paul unconscious on the living room floor, Harold retreated back to No.24 while Izzy came across Paul’s body on the ground and called for an ambulance. Paul was rushed to hospital where he recovered, but once he was out, he feared that the person who was trying to kill him hadn’t been Tony Corbett at all, and the threat to him and his family was still very much alive.

Paul fell back into a sense of paranoia and insecurity in the wake of the latest threat to his life, and Izzy and Elle struggled to help him back to normality. Elle's boyfriend Ned Parker even moved in temporarily to provide an extra sense of security in the house but Paul had become so paranoid that at one point, he suspected Ned of being the one who was out to get him and sent him packing. The truth emerged, however, after Harold spent some time alone in Tasmania where he searched his soul and came to his senses. He confessed all to Paul upon his return, and Paul initially reacted with complete shock. He couldn't believe that the whiter than white, pillar of the community Harold, who he had known for so many years, could ever be capable of such a thing. Paul's shock quickly turned to rage and he threatened Harold with the police, much to the delight of Izzy, who had suspected Harold of being the culprit for some time. But Paul began to have second thoughts when he realised that a man like Harold wouldn't try to kill someone for no reason, and he began to look at himself as the real reason behind Harold's behaviour. Paul concluded that it was his actions and his dodgy dealings that had caused the plane to be blown up and for Harold to lose his family. Having decided not to press charges, Paul forgave Harold for what had happened and they agreed to put the whole sorry mess behind them.

But Izzy had other ideas. She was furious with Harold for what he had done, and for the fact that he had gotten away with everything, and she put pressure on Paul to get revenge on him in some way. With the restaurant at Lassiter's losing a lot of business to Harold and Lou's General Store, Izzy suggested Paul re-launch it as a café to rival Harold and Lou's trade. Paul instantly went for the idea, as it not only provided him with a way to pay Harold back for his behaviour, but also naming it Lucinda's and offering the co-managing job to Elle, would ensure she stuck around in Erinsborough instead of moving to Sydney with Ned as she had recently planned to.

As the café war got underway, things turned nasty when Paul stole Harold and Lou's butcher and Lou retaliated by obtaining an events licence so they could sell alcohol to uni students during orientation week. A low point in the feud for Harold came when Paul beat him to donating prizes and catering for the hospital fundraiser, and a furious Harold confronted Paul about his treacherous ways, even pointing out how disgusted Helen would be by his behaviour if she were alive – a comment that did little to temper Paul's behaviour. As it became apparent that Harold and Lou couldn't compete with Lucinda's for long with Paul undercutting them at every opportunity, they eventually found themselves unable to pay their rent. As landlord, Paul had the power to evict them from the premises and gleefully took the store over himself, installing Elle and Dylan there to run that business too. But Lou managed to win back the store from Paul by getting an old contact at the council to con Paul into thinking the premises would have to be demolished – leading Paul to quickly sell the lease back to Lou.

By that stage, Paul had his mind on other matters. Desperate to see Ned out of Erinsborough – and Elle's life – Paul and Izzy schemed to force him out of town. They arranged for a theatre director to offer the wannabe musical star an audition in Sydney, but Ned wouldn’t leave without Izzy, who he had fallen in love with and –unbeknownst to Paul – slept with. In typical Izzy fashion, she concocted a whole host of stories to discourage Ned from sticking around, eventually claiming that Paul had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. She pleaded with Ned to put his career first and go to Sydney, but he refused and a further complication presented itself when a security guard at Lassiter’s tried to blackmail Izzy with a CCTV tape of her and Ned having sex in her office. Max finally persuaded his sister to own up to Paul and when she did, Paul was stunned at her betrayal. But after Izzy explained that the only reason she had got involved with him was to keep him away from Elle, Paul realised she had been well intentioned and agreed to leave it in the past, despite repeated attempts by Ned to drive a wedge between the two.

Paul was thrilled when another of the triplets arrived in Erinsborough, this time it was Cameron who wanted to get to know more of his estranged father. However, what Paul, Izzy and even his sister Elle didn't realise was that Cameron was actually the third Robinson triplet, Robert. Robert had never forgiven Paul for what he considered to be a complete abandonment of the family and as a result, was always more different and withdrawn from his siblings. What nobody knew was just how disturbed Robert had become and how he had begun an elaborate series of events aimed at extracting revenge on Paul - including planting the bomb on the Lassiter's joy flight and attempting to poison Paul and Izzy. His next move was to cause a car accident involving Cameron which put him in a coma, allowing Robert to assume his more normal and likeable twins' identity while letting everyone else think that Robert had gone travelling in Europe. Upon settling in Ramsay Street, the first person on Robert's hate list was Dylan, who he realised had become like a son to Paul. Having caused a rift between Paul and Dylan, Robert turned his attentions to Izzy. As she babysat her baby nephew Charlie at No.22 one afternoon, Robert crept in and turned the gas on, causing Izzy to pass out and almost die. Lyn Scully, who had recently started working for Paul as his PA and was also Charlie's grandmother, came to their rescue when she called over just in the nick of time. Robert then adopted a new tack, by flirting with Izzy in the hope of exposing her to Paul as an unfaithful lover. Having recorded several conversations he had had with her on his mp3 player, Robert then edited them all together to make it sound like Izzy was coming on to him and when he played it to Elle, she convinced him he had to tell Paul.

As soon as Paul heard the recording, he flipped out and threw Izzy out of No.22. Paul was particularly bruised by the apparent failure of his relationship with Izzy because he had made a serious effort not to lie to her, only for her to repay him with such deceit. He found a shoulder to cry on in the form of Lyn, who seemed to be looking at Paul as more than her boss and was delighted when Paul told her in turn that he saw her as more than employee. They became even closer when Paul spotted a baby utility belt on Lyn's daughter Steph, that she had adapted from an old tool belt and they embarked on a new business venture to mass market the product. But when Paul hooked up with Letitia, one of the manufacturers, and Lyn expressed her dismay, he told her in no uncertain terms to stay out of his business.

Meanwhile, Robert was on the verge of being exposed as Izzy, determined to win Paul back, broke into No.22 to get her hands on the mp3 player and eventually managed to piece the recordings back together to prove her innocence. Having presented Paul with the truth, Paul and Izzy quickly worked out that Robert had been behind so much of the drama and upset in recent months – and when Paul remembered that Robert had been behaving strangely earlier that day around Elle's car, he realised he must have been tinkering with it in order to cause her harm. Paul phoned Elle and got her to escape just before the bomb Robert had planted in it had gone off. A shaken Paul called the police but, of course, at that stage, everyone still thought it was Cameron who was behind all the physical and emotional carnage that had overcome Erinsborough. Robert, meanwhile, had gone to visit Cameron at the hospice he had admitted him to and was stunned to find the bed empty. Cameron had woken from his coma earlier that day after a visit from Robert where he had confessed all before going off to plant the bomb in Elle's car. Hiding behind the curtains in the room, Cameron jumped out and knocked Robert unconscious when he returned, and changing into his brother’s clothes, he headed for help. But his timing was awful, as just as Cameron got to Ramsay Street, the police had arrived and arrested him. And upon regaining consciousness back at the hospice, Robert slipped into the bed previously occupied by his brother and pretended to be in the coma that Cameron had spent the last two months in.

The realisation that his son had caused such harm and was filled with so much hatred towards him hit Paul badly. And as confusion began to overshadow proceedings – Elle had started to suspect, rightly, that it had actually been Robert living in their midst all this time and Cameron had now somehow ended up innocently in the frame – Paul focused his attention on the comatose Robert and had him transferred to Erinsborough Hospital. Paul was also deeply touched by the support he received from Harold, particularly when he was faced with the heartbreaking task of telling Harold that it had been one of his own sons who had planted the bomb on the plane that had wiped out his family. Paul also apologised to Izzy for ever doubting her, and Izzy delighted him by telling him, for the first time, that she loved him and moved back into No.22.

When a stunned Gail heard about what had happened, she quickly made her way back to Erinsborough and came face to face with Paul for the first time in over ten years at the bedside of Robert. Straight away the old feelings between the pair resurfaced – with Gail angrily accusing Paul of ruining their childrens' lives by putting the almighty dollar first as always before calming down afterwards and having a coffee with him. Gail then headed to the police station to speak to Cameron, and afterwards, was sure something was amiss. Paul insisted on Gail staying with him at their old marital home although she came into conflict straight away with Izzy, who accused Gail of being a bad mother for producing such an evil son. Paul managed to assure Gail that he didn't see it that way and the pair caught up on old times when they were finally left alone at No.22.

Once Robert had 'awoken' from his coma and was released from hospital, the Robinsons were all reunited under one roof, with the exception of Cameron who was languishing in police custody for crimes he didn’t commit. Robert was disgusted that Gail and Paul were getting on so well, and told Gail that he was only staying there for her. But Gail urged Robert to mend some fences with his father and get to know him better. Meanwhile, Paul and Gail were getting to know each other better all over again. After telling Paul she wanted to visit the graves of Helen and Jim while she was in town, Paul took Gail by surprise when he expressed a desire for them to visit Rob's grave too and he finally apologised for walking out on her father's funeral to go back to the office all those years ago. Touched by the sentiment, Gail got caught up in the moment and kissed Paul, although the re-igniting of their old chemistry was short-lived as Robert saw the embrace and interrupted them. But Paul and Gail were delighted when Robert suggested he and Paul go away on a camping trip together for a few days.

Something continued to nag at Gail, though, as Paul and Robert prepared to leave for their trip. Before going camping, Gail and Robert visited Cameron in prison who went crazy when Robert mentioned he was going away with Paul and warned Gail that Paul's life would be in danger. Gail's unease increased when Robert cryptically told her as he left for the trip that anything he had ever done was for her. The final proof that Robert was actually the maniac in the family came when Katya Kinski, who had been dating 'Cameron' arrived at No.22 insisting that it had actually been Robert she had been involved with because she had just bumped into him at the pub and had a flashback to a previous brush with him. Fearing for Paul's safety, Gail phoned Robert and her worst fears were realised when Robert was distant as he spoke to her and told her Paul was too busy to come to the phone. This prompted Gail, Elle and Izzy to follow them to the bush in pursuit of Paul. But Robert had already drugged Paul and trapped him in an old mineshaft, before exposing himself as the mastermind behind all the recent crimes when Paul woke up. Robert then left Paul in the shaft and collapsed the entrance, leaving his father behind to be buried alive.

When Gail, Izzy and Elle came across Robert at the camping site and questioned him about Paul's whereabouts, he became agitated, threw a shovel at them and fled – leaving the women with no idea where Paul was. As emergency services were brought in to help search the area, Gail came across an old photo of her and Paul lying on the ground which Robert had thrown at Paul before leaving him in the shaft. Paul had managed to poke the picture through a tiny hole in the shaft and when Gail found it, she cried out for Paul and was relieved to hear him calling back at her from underground. Once Paul was finally rescued, he was brought back to Erinsborough Hospital where a delighted Gail showed signs of becoming increasingly close to him. Izzy warned her off Paul, but Gail was harbouring such strong feelings for him that she couldn't help herself and when she told Paul about Izzy's warning, Paul told Gail that they would always share something special and he wasn't prepared to throw it all away due to a tantrum from Izzy. Izzy became so irked by the couple's bond that she made a catty, throwaway suggestion that they get married again – an idea that Paul seized on as it would be just the thing to bring Robert out of hiding.

Before long, plans were afoot for what would be Paul and Gail's third wedding ceremony, even though this one was purely designed as a ruse to catch Robert. A newspaper article was written about the nuptials which was seen by Robert and he made his way back to Erinsborough on the day to disrupt proceedings. Meanwhile, Paul and Gail put so much effort into the wedding that it looked and felt so real they were quickly caught up in the emotion of it all. Gail was particularly touched when Paul broke away from the prepared vows and spoke from the heart about how blessed he was to have found her again. The ceremony was interrupted, however, when an impatient Paul began calling out for Robert to show himself – an act which finally prompted Robert to shoot at his father from the bushes he had been hiding in. However, the police had predicted such a move and Paul had been wearing a bullet proof vest.

With Robert in prison, Cameron released and the drama of recent times behind them, the Robinsons tried to start again as a family, but Paul was behaving in a strange way and almost seemed to enjoy the battle for his affections that was raging between Gail and Izzy, not to mention the ever-increasing attentions of Lyn. Events came to a head when the family went for dinner and Cameron hit it off with the beautiful Lilly DeRouge. After dinner, Paul excused himself to attend a business meeting but Gail and Izzy became suspicious when Lyn called over to No.22 knowing nothing about any such meeting. Gail and Izzy went down to Lassiter's were they were shocked to find Paul in bed with Lilly and Gail decided that whatever she thought she and Paul could have together, there was no chance of reconciliation after all. The next day, Gail returned to Tasmania, leaving Elle and Cameron behind to continue getting to know their father better and urging Paul to seek some professional help before it was too late.

But Paul was on a downward slope as far as his morals were concerned. He began flirting with women all over town and rejected pleas from Max to be less public about his behaviour out of deference to Izzy. He persuaded Elle to pretend she had a fatal disease in order to retain the love of Dylan, who had been torn between her and Sky for months. He attempted to blackmail Carmella Cammeniti, who had recently joined a nunnery and become 'Sister Mary Catherine', into sleeping with him. And when Paul discovered that the baby belt design infringed a patent that was lodged years ago and he stood to lose everything he had invested in the venture, he set Lyn up for the fall by promoting her to Managing Director of New Projects at Lassiter's with a 100% pay-rise. Although she initially wanted to have the contract checked out by a lawyer, Lyn decided to trust Paul and took the job. What Lyn didn’t realise was that Paul had included in the deal, a total signing over of the whole baby belt deal to her and within weeks, she had been served with a writ for copyright infringement. When Lyn confronted Paul about his betrayal, he stunned her by kissing her, and turned on by her threats to use all the dirt she had on him from his business deals to bring him down, Paul embarked on a torrid romance with her, seeing her for the first time as more than a divorced mum of five. Blaming the baby belt idea on Izzy, who had moved out after realising Paul could no longer commit to one woman, Paul vowed to fight the infringement case with Lyn and he impressed her further by lavishing attention on her and her youngest son, Oscar. Izzy threw a brief spanner in the works by telling Lyn that Paul had killed Gus Cleary in the Lassiter's fire that had coincided with Paul's return to the area but Paul managed to persuade Lyn that Izzy was simply being malicious and had been overcome with jealousy. But Paul was privately furious with Izzy, and threatened her with finding herself in a similar situation to Gus if she raised the subject again.

As Paul's descent into darkness continued, an unexpected blow came when word reached Paul that Robert had escaped from prison and was on the loose. The whole of Ramsay Street was on extra alert in anticipation of his return and this proved to be fatally problematic for Cameron, as he was mistaken for Robert by Max, when he was seen chasing Katya. In fact, he was simply catching up with her after she had left her bag behind but thinking it was Robert out to cause more havoc, Max was caught up in a moment of terror and knocked him down. As he was taken to hospital, Paul and Elle were told that he was in a critical condition but it was only when Elle went to phone Cameron to let him know what had happened and heard a phone ringing in the bag containing Robert's belongings that they realised Cameron had been the one who was run down. As Cameron's condition deteriorated, word filtered through that Robert had never escaped and had actually just been hiding from the prison guards and Paul became even more angry at the chain of events. But Cameron made Paul promise to come good if he pulled through, something which Paul worked on straight away by starting counselling to get to the bottom of his bad behaviour. However, Cameron then took a turn for the worst and died, leaving Paul even more embittered than ever before.

After burying Cameron at home in Tasmania, Paul returned to Erinsborough hell bent on getting revenge on Max for causing his son’s death. He was tipped over the edge when he witnessed Max hugging his son Boyd and decided, since Max was only being charged with manslaughter, he would dish out his own form of punishment. After leaving a note for Elle apologising for what he was about to do, Paul followed Max down to Lassiter’s and pulled a gun on him. Luckily, Max managed to talk Paul out of doing anything foolish by pointing out killing him wouldn’t make his grief any easier to deal with and a broken Paul dropped his gun just as Lyn, who had found a note Paul left for Elle apologising for what he was about to do, arrived to confiscate the gun. Paul decided to act on the advice Max had offered him by refusing to pursue the manslaughter charges and allow Max get on with his life.

The gun incident had led Lyn to re-evaluate her relationship with Paul, however, and she told him she didn’t want to see him anymore. But after her legal bills from the baby belt fiasco forced her to sell her home, Paul offered her and Oscar a room at No 22, on a strictly platonic basis. Lyn had no alternative but to accept, and felt a lot better about the arrangement when Izzy, on her way out of Erinsborough for good, revealed to her that she had lied about Paul murdering Gus. However, Paul had persuaded Izzy to tell Lyn this in return for him keeping quiet about the fact that she was carrying Karl Kennedy’s baby. As Lyn’s attitude towards Paul softened, he surprised her by whisking her and Oscar off to New York to visit her daughters Flick and Michelle.

When Paul stayed on in America a bit longer than Lyn, she had convinced herself that Paul wining and dining beautiful young women in the Big Apple, particularly after Flick told her she had seen Paul with a mysterious blonde at one point. But Paul shocked Lyn by returning with an engagement ring and asking her to be the fourth Mrs Robinson. Lyn happily accepted, although they initially kept the news low-key. This was a difficult task to achieve, though, as the engagement ring Paul had bought Lyn was a little big for her finger and Lyn’s refusal to have it re-sized led to it constantly dropping off her finger as she went around town. The final straw came when it came off as she played ball with Oscar at Lassiter’s and it ended up in the lake. Paul hired a team of scuba divers to scour the water in the hope of finding it, but Lyn cleverly called them off at the last minute and explained to Paul that the lake was where she had disposed of his gun. Paul then took it upon himself to wade into the water and having finally found it, Lyn agreed to have it refitted.

Paul was determined to make this marriage work and threw himself into neighbourly behaviour by having dinner with Lyn’s best friend Susan and Karl, who she had recently reunited with. He even decided to sell half of Lassiter’s, retaining a 49% share for himself, in order to cut back on his workload. In fact, Paul was so confident Lyn would be around for the long haul that he made plans to change his will to include her. However, as he worked on the details with the new solicitor at the Lassiter’s Complex, Rosetta Cammeniti, he found himself drawn to her. Paul was desperate to avoid the feelings he had for her, but matters were made worse by the fact that Rosetta had moved into No.30 right across the road from him. In the hope of focusing on his marriage to Lyn, Paul suggested they bring the wedding forward to just before Christmas and Lyn happily agreed. But Lyn unwittingly brought Paul and Rosetta closer when she offered her a business traineeship at the hotel. The sexual tension between Paul and Rosie came to a head when they were trapped in the hotel wine cellar together and got to discussing their past relationships. As Rosie revealed she was still a virgin and had put her professional life ahead of her private life, Paul could contain himself no longer and they shared a passionate kiss. The hotel staff found them before anything else could develop, and Paul pressed on with his plans to wed Lyn.

As the wedding day arrived, Paul was plagued with thoughts and visions of Rosie, culminating with the very real vision of her passing the church in a car while Paul waited for his bride. Nevertheless, he went ahead with the ceremony and despite a brief pause as he made his vows to Lyn, the couple were declared man and wife. At the lavish reception that followed, Paul made a touching speech about how lucky he was to find his perfect woman at last. But the marriage was to be a short one, as Paul realised before the day was out that he couldn’t be trusted to be faithful and true to Lyn. A stunned Lyn was told by Paul in their honeymoon suite that he had kissed Rosetta and still had feelings for her, and would probably have feelings for lots of other women if they were to continue with their marriage. Devastated, Lyn had the marriage annulled and after going to the Maldives with Oscar on what would have been her and Paul’s honeymoon, she resettled in her hometown of Shelley Bay, unable to face Paul and Ramsay Street ever again.

With Elle spending Christmas in Tasmania with Gail, Paul spent the holidays alone as he once again became public enemy number one in Erinsborough. When he passed by Rosie’s office at Lassiter’s on Christmas Day, he was surprised to see her at her desk and they shared a heart to heart over his disastrous marriage to Lyn and her disastrous flirtations with her housemate Frazer Yeats. After Rosie revealed that she had set herself a deadline of midnight that Christmas to lose her virginity, Paul offered to help her out while they still had time but before anything could happen, Frazer interrupted them with a bouquet of flowers for Rosie and a plea to give a relationship with him a chance. With Paul and Frazer now locked in a battle for Rosie’s affections, Rosie’s best friend Pepper Steiger proposed Rosie date each man for a week to work out which one suited her best. While Frazer begrudgingly agreed to go along with the plan, Paul took it as a challenge to prove himself and readily accepted it. Having wined and dined Rosie, Paul then set out to sabotage Rosie’s first date with Frazer at Lassiter’s restaurant by forcing the staff to be rude and inhospitable to the couple. But even having Frazer’s credit card cut didn’t detract from how well the pair were getting on and Paul was disgusted when she told him that the age difference between them was too great and she needed someone like Frazer to experience new things with. Paul then consoled himself by throwing himself into a period of no strings sex with Pepper, getting a kick out of the fact that she was Rosie’s best friend and confidante.

Trouble loomed at Lassiter’s, meanwhile, when Loris Timmins, grandmother to the Timmins’ brood and Paul’s new partner in the hotel, signed her 49% share over to daughter-in-law Janelle and the Timmins kids. Paul was furious at the move, seeing the Timmins family as mere bogans who didn’t know the first thing about running a first rate hotel. He was further incensed by Elle’s support of them, as a result of her relationship with Dylan, and threw her out of No.22, leaving her to take refuge with at the Timmins house. The key to regaining some semblance of control over the company he had spent so long building up lay in the 2% that was owned by a mysterious, silent shareholder who only communicated at board meetings through instant messenger. Paul eventually discovered that ‘Mr 2%’ was actually The Scarlet Bar’s new bartender Will Griggs. Will was actually the son of old business acquaintances of Paul, the late hoteliers Clifford and Pamela Barnes, who had left their entire multi-million-dollar hotel chain to Will and his older brother Oliver. But with Will intent on living life as a normal, run of the mill bartender, he pleaded with Paul not to expose his true identity and Paul agreed in return for Will voting with him in all future board meetings.

Determined to regain full control over his hotel empire, Paul decided he needed Elle’s support and set about ruining her relationship with Dylan. After setting Ned up to lose $25,000 in a rigged card game, Paul agreed to pay off his debts in return for Ned carrying out a number of tasks for him. Paul even sweetened the deal for Ned by putting him up in Karl Kennedy’s old flat, which Paul had recently bought and lavishly refurbished. Accompanying Elle, Dylan, and some other Ramsay Street lovebirds on a Valentine’s retreat in the countryside, Ned’s first act of treachery for Paul was to ensure Dylan fell into someone else’s bed. Ned was successful in getting him into bed with Carmella, although nothing actually happened between the two because he had drugged their drinks, but after Elle caught them the next morning, the damage was done and she went running back to Paul. With Elle back on side, Paul’s next targets were the Timmins’ themselves and he again used Ned to make life miserable for them. He had Ned rob their house, which they hadn’t insured, and mug Paul as he was taking the Lassiter’s takings to the bank, to make it look like a huge chunk of the company’s profit had been lost. Paul hoped that these actions, coupled with his announcing to the family at board meetings that the company was in serious financial trouble, would lead to them throwing the towel in and selling their shares.

But Lassiter’s took a backseat to the Timmins family when youngest son Stingray died from an aneurysm after donating his bone marrow to his leukaemia stricken niece, Dylan’s baby daughter, Kerry. What Paul didn’t realise was that an enraged Dylan held him solely responsible for his younger brother’s death as Kerry had gotten the cancer from Dylan as a result of his exposure to the toxic waste Paul had dumped in the wetlands, and Stingray had died as a result of the operation to save the baby’s life. On a misson to make Paul pay, Dylan kidnapped him, taking him out to the bush where he played a dangerous game of cat and mouse with his former mentor. Dylan finally lured Paul to the same cliff where he had fallen and lost his leg, and pushed him off the edge. But as Paul was clinging on for his life, Dylan realised that he couldn’t leave him to die as he had enough grief to deal with and after helping Paul back up, he told him he was doing a good enough job of ruining his life by himself.

Rather than change his ways after this latest eye opener, Paul simply became more and more vengeful and evil, and worst of all, had started to drag Elle down with him. Ever since Will’s brother Oliver had arrived in town, Paul was anxious to get on Oliver’s good side as he now owned Will’s 2% of Lassiter’s, and he realised the best way to get to him would be through a marriage to Elle. But Oliver had fallen for Carmella, and there was hardly any chance of Oliver giving Elle a second look. The only potential barrier to their happiness was Oliver’s unease at Carmella’s family, Erinsborough’s answer to the mafia. To seize on Oliver’s unhappiness with the Cammeniti way of doing things, Paul and Elle planted explosives on Carmella’s fruit van. Although they hadn’t meant to harm anyone and the bomb had been timed to go off when there was nobody in it, both Carmella and Oliver were almost killed when the explosives were a little late to detonate. Without batting an eyelid, Paul encouraged Elle to continue in their quest to win Oliver over and she used their country cabin as the perfect place to seduce Oliver when she loaned it to him after a quarrel with Carmella. The plan worked when Oliver finally succumbed and slept with Elle, much to the delight of Paul. But just as Paul’s scheme seemed to be paying off, Elle began to have second thoughts about all the deceit he had involved her in, and Elle realised that she was being used by Paul as merely another pawn in his game. Elle and Ned then opted to leave Erinsborough and get away from Paul, but Paul was adamant that she stay put, even hiding her passport so she couldn’t leave the country. Feeling sorry for Paul, Elle decided to stick around at the last minute, prompting Ned to reveal to her that Paul had arranged for him to break her and Dylan up. Disgusted at the lengths Paul had gone to to get what he wanted, Elle maintained her decision to stay, albeit with a much different purpose.

Paul was thrilled when Elle arrived back apologising for contemplating leaving, and he agreed to let bygones be bygones. But what Paul didn’t know was that Elle had told Oliver everything about their plan to get their hands on the Barnes shares, and together, the pair had concocted their own plan to bring Paul down. They began by telling Paul they were engaged, and Paul was overjoyed at the prospect of amalgamating the Barnes wealth with his own. And to achieve Paul’s ultimate goal of regaining full control of Lassiter’s, Elle and Oliver convinced him that they had persuaded Janelle to sell her 49% to Oliver, which he would in turn sell back to Paul. Paul didn’t realise that Janelle was in on their scheme and so, never raised an eyebrow when Elle suggested he put the company in her name because Janelle was refusing to sell so long as Paul was involved in the hotel. Paul readily agreed to the ploy, and before the ink was even dry, he was celebrating with a cocktail party at the hotel restaurant. But he was stunned when Elle revealed that she wasn’t really engaged to Oliver but that they were now equal partners in Lassiter’s and she had taken everything away from him in order to save him from himself.

Paul had Rosie scrutinise the contract he’d signed and was stunned to learn that it was incontestable and that he had signed over everything – Lassiter’s, the house, international investments, shares and even his everyday bank accounts. As he tried to return home, he found the locks had been changed and Elle had him arrested for trespassing after he crept in the back door. The only place Paul had to turn was the flat Ned had been using, and holed up there for days on end, Paul sunk into a state of despair. Bitter at Elle’s devious plot, despite it being ultimately well intentioned, Paul rejected her attempts at showing she still cared when she called over with food parcels and offered him a job at the hotel as an event co-ordinator. To add to his woes, Paul started to experience intense pain in his head and found it hard to understand what people were saying to him. It had been happening on and off for a while, but the stress of losing everything had amplified the sensations and he eventually sought medical help. He was shocked to be told that he was suffering from an acoustic neuroma, and required surgery to remove a hitherto undetected tumour that had been growing on his brain for several years. Rejecting his doctor’s advice, Paul ignored the diagnosis and resolved to carry on with his life as best he could.

While still learning to deal with the news, Paul befriended a homeless teenager, known as Fox, when he tried to steal his lunch from him one day at Lassiter’s. Desperately in need of company, Paul found himself confiding in Fox and began to take onboard the advice Fox was giving him, particularly where Elle was concerned. Fox blamed Elle for all the suffering Paul had endured and persuaded him to break into No.22 and smash the house up. When Paul brought Fox to stay with him at the flat, Fox began to taunt Paul and refused to let him leave. Paul finally managed to escape and ran as far as the car park before collapsing as the noise in his head got louder and louder. He was taken to hospital where the doctors told him he must have the brain surgery or die. But Paul returned home in the hope of first making amends with Elle, only to again be met by Fox at the apartment, who was now making Paul believe Fox and Elle were working together to drive him insane. Paul started to fight with Fox, just as Elle arrived at the apartment and she was shocked to walk in and witness Paul fighting with thin air. Elle convinced Paul to go to the hospital with her, thinking he had had some kind of mental breakdown, but once there, Paul’s tumour was revealed to her and he was prepared for emergency surgery. Right up until he went under the knife, Paul was still being taunted by Fox, who was actually a figment of his imagination caused by the tumour.

Paul lay in a coma for a week after the operation, with Elle maintaining a constant vigil. When Paul finally woke up, he had no idea who Elle was, and instead asked to see Jim and Helen. It quickly became clear that Paul had lost a large part of his memory during the surgery, and Elle was forced to break the devastating news to Paul that Jim and Helen had both died over ten years ago. Experiencing the grief all over again, Paul asked to be left alone to come to terms with what had happened. Things got worse when he realised Elle was his daughter, as he didn’t recall having any children and he put his foot in it with Harold when he visited and a clueless Paul started asking him how Madge was keeping. When Elle brought him in some photo albums in the hope of jogging his memory, Paul became preoccupied with the whereabouts of Gail when he saw a picture of her and he couldn’t accept that their marriage had broken up. As it became evident that the growth on his brain had been the cause of Paul’s descent into evil in recent years, and that the memory loss had made Paul forget all the bad things he had done to his family and friends, Elle opted to keep things that way in order to save Paul from any further upset and she persuaded everyone else to do the same.

But Paul didn’t quite trust Elle, particularly when she claimed to have not been able to contact Gail, who Paul wanted to see. Pressing her for more information about what had happened in recent years, Elle finally told him about Cameron’s death and how Gail had broken off all contact with him since then. While Paul was sorry to hear he had lost a son, he couldn’t feel any remorse given that he had no recollection of the boy and was concerned instead about Gail. After Elle left her mobile phone behind in Paul’s hospital room by accident, he quickly found Gail’s number in Tasmania and left a message with her declaring his love for her and pleading with her to visit him. A highly sceptical Gail returned to Erinsborough, determined to have it out with Paul, believing his memory loss to be a convenient way for him to crawl back into people’s good books and rejecting Elle’s pleas to keep the truth from him. However, as soon as Gail came face to face with Paul again, she was shocked by how much he had reverted back to the man she had first fallen in love with and realised that the brain tumour must have been what caused his bad behaviour in recent years. Unable to bring herself to hurt him, Gail agreed to go along with Elle’s plan and spare Paul from knowing the truth about his past.

But the truth came out when Paul overheard Gail and Elle discussing all the pain he had caused people, particularly in the months leading up to his operation, and the fact that Robert, his own son, had tried to kill him. On the eve of his discharge from the hospital, Gail sat Paul down and told him everything and he was stunned as he realised all the things that he had done to his family and friends, and by extension, what Robert had done. Upon returning to Ramsay Street, Paul broke down at a barbecue Elle had organised to celebrate his homecoming and he begged the forgiveness of his neighbours and friends for the hurt he had caused them.

Adjusting to life as a father proved difficult for Paul, too, and he hurt Elle by asking her to refrain from calling him ‘Dad’ while he tried to get his head around things. When Gail pleaded with him to start working on his relationship with Elle, Paul complained that he couldn’t remember her, barely even liked her and had no feelings for her. Elle overheard the conversation and bitterly attacked Paul for neglecting her all her life and revealing how far she had gone before the operation to try and save him from self destruction. After things cooled down, Gail eventually persuaded Paul to patch things up with Elle and Paul agreed to give their father/daughter relationship a chance.

As Paul settled back into some sort of normality on Ramsay Street, Gail found herself being drawn to him all over again. After spending a family night in in front of the box at No.22, Paul pleaded with Gail to give their marriage another shot. At first reluctant, Gail succumbed after Paul got her to concede that she still had deep feelings for him and they slept together. The next day, Paul whisked Gail and Elle off to the countryside for a family picnic but Gail gradually realised that they couldn’t simply wash away the past twenty years and live as if nothing had happened for any of them in between. Although still in love with Paul, Gail returned to Tasmania, explaining to him that she couldn’t bring herself to fully reunite with him as his wife, and left him heartbroken.

With Gail gone, Paul put all his energy into redeveloping his relationship with Elle. It wasn't long before his paternal instincts began to kick in – when he caught Elle in a passionate embrace with Oliver, he was decidedly uncomfortable with the situation and when he expressed these feelings to Harold, Harold assured him that he was simply behaving like a father. Another person who Paul worked at patching things up with was Ned. Having bumped into him at the lake one afternoon and sensing that there was some bad blood between them, Paul extended the hand of friendship. Ned was initially sceptical of the new Paul but after a while he came around – particularly given he had just started a new chapter in his own life having been landed with Mickey, the eight-year-old son he never knew existed. Paul and Mickey also hit it off, which helped matters and when Paul realised that Ned was living with Mickey, and his pet dog Jake, in a hotel room at Lassiter's, he insisted on them moving in with him and Elle at No.22 for a while.

Just as things were settling down for Paul, an unexpected bombshell was delivered to him when it emerged that he might be Oliver's father. Oliver had discovered he was adopted and had been on a quest to find his birth parents for some time, eventually finding out that his mother was Rebecca Napier – the daughter of the Barnes family's trusted manservant, Alan. After tracking her down and experiencing a few false starts, Oliver and Rebecca were finally getting to the point were it looked like they would be able to build a relationship. But then Rebecca paid Oliver a visit at No.22 and was stunned to see a photo of Paul on the sideboard. When Elle explained that the man in the photograph was her father, a horrified Rebecca fled and returned when only Paul was home. Paul was initially confused by her visit but gradually a memory came back to him when Rebecca explained that they had met on a flight back in Paul's air steward days and had shared a romantic weekend together. Although he now remembered Rebecca, Paul was still unsure of why she had appeared on his doorstep after so long but was shocked when she told him she was Oliver's mother and urged him to stop Elle and Oliver from seeing each other immediately. When Paul pressed her for a reason, Rebecca told him that he was Oliver's father.

While Paul struggled to come to terms with the news, all concerned were also hugely disturbed by the fact that if Rebecca's revelation was proved to be true, Elle and Oliver – by now involved in a serious relationship - were half-siblings. Paul and Oliver agreed to have a DNA test, and Oliver tried to set Paul's mind at rest while they waited for the outcome by assuring him – falsely – that he and Elle hadn't been having sex. Meanwhile, Paul and Rebecca got to know each other better as they waited for the results and Paul pressed Rebecca to explain why she had never got in touch to tell him he had gotten her pregnant all those years ago. Rebecca explained that when she found out she was pregnant, she phoned Paul's house but the prickly Julie had taken the call and had been quite rude to her – leading Rebecca to assume Julie was Paul's wife rather than his sister and fearing she would break up a marriage, she gave up on Paul. Rebecca's long-held belief proved to be unfounded, however, when the DNA tests came back negative – much to the relief of Elle and Oliver, although Paul did tell Oliver that he would have been proud to have been his father.

Rebecca went into meltdown upon discovering Paul wasn't Oliver's father and when she refused to tell Oliver who else could have fathered him, a furious Oliver cut all ties with her. However, Paul realised that there must have been a pretty big reason for Rebecca not to want to tell Oliver the truth and he met with her to try and get to the bottom of things. Rebecca admitted to Paul that if Oliver wasn't fathered by him, the only other person who it could have been was Richard Aaronow, the father of her other son, 17-year-old Declan. Paul was horrified when Rebecca went on to reveal that Richard was a violent and dangerous man who had pursued her relentlessly over the years, eventually raping her, which was what had resulted in Declan's conception. As a result, Rebecca had spent most of her life on the move, fearful of Richard catching up with her and Declan. Paul and Rebecca grew closer as he offered her his support, and Paul succeeded in getting Oliver to give Rebecca another chance. When Oliver pressed Rebecca once more to reveal who his father was, she invented the name Andrew Butler until Paul convinced her to level with Oliver once and for all and she broke the news to him about Richard Aaronow.

When Elle – unaware of what a horrible man he was – tracked Richard down and told him about Oliver and Declan's whereabouts, Rebecca was furious when she found out and, terrified that he was going to arrive on her doorstep at any moment, made plans to leave town. But Paul stepped in and persuaded her it was time she stopped running, and invited her and Declan to move into No.22 where they would be surrounded by people and be safe. When Declan learnt the truth about what his father had done to Rebecca, he flipped out and lured Richard to a remote fishing spot under the pretence of getting to know him better. Paul, Oliver and Rebecca were forced to race after him when they saw a note he had left for them saying he had gone to sort Richard out. By the time they got to the river, Declan was about to be attacked by Richard and Paul and Oliver intervened and rescued him from his clutches in the nick of time. Paul brought Rebecca and Declan away to a cabin in the country to get away from it all and while there, Paul and Rebecca admitted that they both had feelings for each other and became a couple. Their new found happiness was interrupted by Richard, however, when he tracked them down to the country and set upon Rebecca while she was gathering wood alone in the bush. Although she escaped unhurt, the ordeal led Rebecca to decide to take a civil case against Richard – but a shocking surprise was in store when it emerged Richard was in end stage renal failure and only a kidney transplant from one of his sons could save him. Declan wanted to donate one of his so that Richard would live long enough to face his day in court but Rebecca wouldn't allow him and instead, Oliver stepped into the breach – extending Richard's life for the time being.

Just as Paul and Rebecca were starting to settle down into a sense of domestic bliss, Paul began to have a series of flashbacks in which he recalled the events of the fire at Lassiter’s and the murder of Gus Cleary. He confided in Elle about his recollections and admitted he was beginning to think he had caused the fire and left Gus there to die. Elle insisted it couldn't be the case but Paul was determined to get to the bottom of it and arranged to see Erinsborough Hospital's resident psychiatrist Dr. Jeremy Levi. When Dr. Levi suggested hypnotherapy, Paul was all for it but Elle worried that if Paul delved too deeply into his past he would return to his old ways. Conflicted over what course of action to take, Paul decided to put hypnotherapy on hold and agreed to Elle helping him research local fires in the hope of triggering his memory. But as it became apparent to Paul that his memories were real, he decided to call the police and confess to the murder and arson. The police turned up at No.22 to question him about his confession and when Paul was able to give specific detail, such as what kind of a crowbar had been used to hit Gus, they began to realise he may be telling the truth. Meanwhile, Paul realised he would have to tell Rebecca about what he had done. She refused to believe him, at first, but Paul was insistent that he was a murderer and urged her to leave before he hurt her in the way Richard had. A heartbroken Rebecca packed her bags and moved into Lassiter's with Declan, who was confused and surprised by his mum's sudden change of heart towards Paul. Declan pleaded with Paul for an explanation but Paul would only tell him that he had done some bad things and didn't want to hurt Rebecca any further. Just as Paul was starting to resign himself to going back behind bars, though, the police informed him that they wouldn't be pursuing the case any further as there was no evidence and not even a motive to tie Paul to the murder, other than his potentially unreliable post-brain surgery memories.