.
Character Profiles > Stingray Timmins Ben Nicholas

Scott 'Stingray' John Timmins 2004-2007
Lived: 26, 28, 30 Ramsay Street, West Waratah Caravan Park
Born: 1987
Parents: Kim and Janelle Timmins
Siblings: Dwayne, Brandon, Dylan, Janae and Anne; Bree (adoptive)
Family Tree: Timmins
Occupation: Student, Courier, Barman at Scarlet Bar
Died: 2007

Growing up in a trailer park in Colac, Scott was never going to have the easiest of lives. The son of Kev Rebecchi’s sister, Janelle, Scott’s side of the family were the ones that everyone tried to avoid talking about as much as possible. It came as quite a surprise, then, to Toadie, when he spotted his teenage cousin on TV, as the streaker at a footie match. The ensuing chaos caused a riot, and as a trainee police officer, Stuart Parker was called upon to guard the young offender. Scott made sure to test Stu’s patience to breaking point, but was relieved when Toadie, turned up to act as his guardian and give him a couch to sleep on.

Scott’s first few days in Ramsay Street were filled with chaos. He refused to eat anything but fish fingers, and managed to steal Sindi’s video camera and Boyd’s skateboard. Whilst using them to perform stunts, he ran into Serena Bishop, and immediately fell in love. She, however, was not interested in this strange newcomer. Scott continued to wreak havoc on the neighbourhood, and when Max Hoyland ran him down after he leapt out as he was reversing, Scott was taken to the surgery. Karl explained to Toadie that Scott was displaying many of the signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and so referred him for further tests. In the meantime, Susan, who felt that the boy could be treated without drugs, took him under her wing and began tutoring him. She also encouraged him to eat vegetables, as a drug-free method of controlling his condition. During his court case, it emerged that Scott had been convicted twice before already, and was on his final chance. Toadie therefore revealed the possibility that Scott had ADHD and agreed to be his legal guardian, as well as enrolling him at Erinsborough High.

Meanwhile, Scott’s crush on Serena continued to grow and grow. He performed stunts, such as drinking chilli milkshakes, in an effort to impress her, and she finally sat up and took notice when he used Paul’s BMX bike to perform a stunt, landing in the Bishops’ pool. Serena’s attitude to Scott began to soften and he presented her with a collage he had made. She was amused by it, believing it was something he’d created in primary school, until she noticed that it had a heart in the middle, containing the letter ‘S’. She finally agreed to give him a chance and go out on an official date with him. An excited Scott arranged everything for a picnic in the park, and the pair were having fun, with Serena finally beginning to relax in his company, when Jack and Stuart came along. Serena’s sudden change in mood convinced Scott that she was too embarrassed to be seen with him, and this incident went on to mar his first day at the school. However, once he was there, he tried to do his best to fit in, but his over-eagerness and clumsiness made it difficult for him to fit in.

When Toadie went missing suddenly, having been kidnapped by Sindi’s ex-boyfriend, Rocco, Scott once again began to go off the rails. He tore up his school books and lashed out at those around him, unwilling to believe that his cousin would abandon him. As he packed up to leave Ramsay Street in search of Toadie, Serena tried to stop him, but as he pushed her away, he accidentally hit her, causing more problems, especially with her parents, who had witnessed the whole thing. A sympathetic Susan offered Scott a room at her house, at least until Toadie came back, which he accepted. Meanwhile, some fake emails from Rocco’s henchman made Scott believe that Toadie was fine, and simply needed some time away. Living with Susan seemed to be the stable environment Scott needed, and he got his relationship with Serena back on track. He managed to make her parents see that he wasn’t all bad, even turning up to wash their windows wearing a tuxedo, while he helped Serena’s grandfather, Harold, to tidy his allotment. However, the couple’s first official date didn’t do too well. Whilst Scott got coaching on how to dress and behave from Gino, his downfall came when he ate too much and threw up over Serena. She wasn’t perturbed, and they continued past a second disastrous date, which Scott missed completely, to become an official couple. More good news followed when Stuart and Sindi found Toadie at a small country hospital, where he was in a coma. A few days later, he woke up with no lasting effects, and Scott was thrilled to finally have his cousin back.

When Sky decided to apply for an arts grant from the council, as part of her latest scam, Serena decided that Stingray should apply too. Unfortunately, she didn’t tell him that she’d sent off the application, so it was quite a shock to him when he was granted an interview. Although he decided to take it seriously, his lack of confidence in the situation caused him to mess up and he threw the interview panel out of the house. He later admitted to Toadie that he didn’t feel like he even belonged in the family, as everyone seemed to have been given a fish name, apart from him. From then on, he was christened Stingray. When Sky then won the grant, she put up a display of boxes at Lassiter's, but nobody seemed to get it. When the words 'BYO meaning' appeared on the boxes overnight, people began to understand the relevance of the art and Sky was praised for her art. However, it had been Stingray who had written the message on the boxes, and, although Sky knew this, she didn't give him any of the credit when Libby interviewed her for the newspaper. In the end, Sky couldn't continue lying and Libby announced that she would have to print a story in the paper about Sky taking credit for her friend's work, until Stingray stopped her. He said that he didn't want to take the matter any further, impressing Sky and saving her from any further embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Serena had arranged to go to the house of a friend from her old private school days, but had made sure Scott wouldn’t come. Nevertheless, he turned up, announcing to everyone that his new name was Stingray and impressing Serena’s friends by acting the clown. Unfortunately, Serena was humiliated by this and quickly dragged him out of the party. The couple then broke up, with Stingray accusing Serena of being too much of a snob. She was desperate to win him back, and her plan worked as she dressed as a ‘bogan’ and he realised that she was serious about him. The couple’s next problem came when Stingray started mooning David on a regular basis. Serena knew who the culprit was, but her father didn’t, so when he came home one day and announced that the mooner had a tattoo on his bum, beginning with the letter ‘S’, Serena was intrigued. She and Sky convinced Boyd to try and take a look at the tattoo in the changing rooms, but Stingray noticed and accused Boyd of fancying him. In the end, Sky was forced to pulls Stingray’s pants down in the school corridor, and Serena was shocked to see that the name on the tattoo was Shazza. She demanded to know who Shazza was, but Stingray wouldn’t tell her so, once again, they split up. Determined to win her back, Stingray convinced Boyd to use a pen to draw a new tattoo, saying Serena, on the other cheek. When Serena saw it, she realised it was simply drawn on and told him she wasn’t impressed, but their argument led to David recognising the bum that had been flashing him. Stingray was forced to apologise to David, but it seemed that he wasn’t quite ready to reveal the shocking truth about Shazza in order to save his relationship. After several days of pressing him for the truth, Serena was surprised when she found out that Shazza was nothing more than Stingray’s pet guinea pig from childhood.

Things calmed down a little for Serena and Stingray after this, until Stingray decided to look after Connor’s baby daughter, Maddie, one day. Thinking he was helping out, he took her off to the skate park, turned his back for a minute and she was gone. Everyone was furious with Stingray, and even when the baby was found safe and well, having been taken to the police by concerned passers-by, it seemed that he’d finally gone too far. He decided that he wasn’t good enough to be around these people, and stole David’s car. When he was eventually found, he finally self-destructed, scaring his friends, especially Serena. After this incident, he decided to start taking the medication to control his suspected ADHD. The medication quickly had an effect on Stingray’s personality, as he grew more and more subdued, and his friends began to miss his old personality. This once again brought about the end of his relationship with Serena, while Sky tried to help her friend by arranging for him to appear on a stunt show on channel 44. When Stingray could barely even skate, let alone perform any stunts, he began to realise himself that he’d changed too much. He agreed to try out the old plan of healthy eating, and before long, he was back to normal. Unfortunately, Serena wasn’t prepared to take him back after everything that had happened, and Stingray was horrified to find her in the Coffee Shop with new boy in town, Luka Dokich. Infact, Stingray was so horrified, he jumped on Luka’s back and tried to fight him.

With his relationship with Serena in tatters, Stingray found himself hanging out more with Boyd, who had his own problems. Boyd found himself caught up in some poster wars, but for once, Stingray was the more sensible of the two as he encouraged Boyd to drop it before someone got really hurt. As Boyd’s behaviour got more and more out of control, Stingray was forced to tell Max and it proved to be just in time, as Boyd’s life was saved by getting the police involved. Meanwhile, another friend needed Stingray’s support when Serena found out that new boyfriend, Luka, was infact her half-brother. For the second time in only a few weeks, he managed to show his sensitive side as he listened to her and offered her a shoulder to cry on.

However, Stingray’s life changed suddenly when his mum, Janelle, made a dramatic appearance in Erinsborough. From the moment she walked through the door, Stingray went back to being his old self, eating junk food and spending time watching tv instead of studying. When Janelle admitted that Stingray’s dad, Kim, had gone off somewhere, she asked him to come home and help her look after his two sisters, Janae and Bree. The visit had quickly put Janelle at loggerheads with Susan and Sindi and this only made matters worse. He finally agreed to go home, but not until after he’d completed his year 11 exams. Although he ended up doing well in his exams, the plans to return to Colac continued and Stingray said a sad farewell to his friends. However, as they left town, he found a note from Serena, which Janelle had forgotten to give him and he decided that he wanted to be back amongst the people who respected him and had high expectations for him. Janelle relented, realising that one of her children might actually make a success of their life, and took him back to Erinsborough.

With Christmas approaching, Stingray decided to put into action a plan to win back Serena. He sent her a gift containing a Freddo frog and a note saying ‘My frog wants to talk to your frog’ – the words he’d used to first ask her out. Serena was touched, but before she could respond, a new girl appeared and stole Stingray’s heart. Shazza Cox seemed to be the perfect match for Stingray, as she hailed from Colac and shared all of his interests. It wasn’t long before they were spending all of their time sucking each other’s faces wherever and whenever possible. When she announced that her parents would be going away, Stingray prepared to sleep with her, after receiving some advice from Boyd. Serena tried to talk him out of it, but he went ahead anyway, and was left disappointed when the earth failed to move for either of them. The next day, Shazza dumped him, announcing that she’d only been using him to make her boyfriend, Jason, jealous.

With Shazza out of the picture, Stingray got back together with Serena and everything seemed to be back on track – until his older brother, Dylan, turned up, fresh out of juvenile detention. Dylan’s presence immediately caused friction when Stingray walked in and punched him. It emerged that Dylan had bullied his younger brother a lot back in Colac, but Susan encouraged Stingray to give his brother a second chance, as so many people had done for him. Dylan then moved in, but caused further problems when he admitted to his brother that he’d scammed Susan into letting him stay. Things only got worse when Dylan encouraged Stingray and Serena to wag school one morning and go swimming instead. Dylan lied to Susan, claiming that they’d been looking after an injured dog, but Stingray couldn’t cope with deceiving his landlady and quickly owned up. Fortunately, Dylan soon began to share his brother’s respect for Susan and tried to pull himself back into line.

When Janelle then returned to town, Stingray was worried about the way she treated Dylan and made attempts to reconcile the pair. When Janelle suggested that the boys move into number 26 with her, Stingray decided to stay with Susan in the hope that some time together might give Dylan a chance to win back his mum’s affection. Unfortunately though, Janelle pushed Dylan too far and he returned to number 28, just as she realised what a poor mother she was being. With all of these family problems on his mind, Stingray turned to Serena for respite and the pair decided that the time had come for them to sleep together. Several attempts at alone time failed, until they eventually got to spend an afternoon together at number 24. As they lay in bed together, the moment was rudely interrupted by David, who promptly threw Stingray out of the house, breaking his arm in the process. Stingray’s mind was taken off these problems when Janelle announced that she wanted her family to be together under one roof and before long, his sisters, Janae and Bree, arrived in town to complete the family. But things got worse for Stingray and Serena when an ill and delusional Boyd admitted to Sky that he’d had a brief, but secret, relationship with Serena a few months back. When Janae overheard Serena and Sky arguing about it, she was quick to report back to her brother, who was extremely upset. When he confronted Serena, he told her that he didn’t want them to break up over this and they managed to resolve their differences.

However, as time went on, Stingray struggled to get over what had happened and grew increasingly resentful of Boyd. When Sky and Boyd then split up over the incident, Stingray grew worried that Serena’s interest in Boyd would return, so he decided to end the relationship rather than wait for her to do it. He soon had other things to worry about when Janelle got herself into serious debt with a new credit card. Despite the fact that Bree ended up winning $15,000 in the national spelling bee finals, Janelle decided that the kids would have to get jobs to help pay off the debt. Stingray quickly managed to find himself work at Go Go Boys courier company. However, he had problems from the beginning when he was embarrassed by his tight, pink outfit, but his employer, Go-Go Riley, told him that he could easily be replaced if he didn’t like the job, so he decided to give it a go. As time went on, Stingray began to realise that Go-Go’s flirting with him was getting out-of-hand. He wondered if she fancied him, but when he confronted her, she laughed in his face. Uncomfortable with the situation, Stingray sought advice from Susan and Toadie, and told Go-Go that if her harassment didn’t stop, he would sue her. From that point on, Stingray received hardly any shifts at all and ended up furiously confronting Go-Go, at which time she sacked him. With Janelle looking for a second job to help pay off the credit card debts, Stingray suggested that they start up their own courier company and put Go-Go out of business. The plan worked, as Speed Freaks poached many of Go-Go Boys’ clients and Janelle decided to settle things once and for all with a bike race, with the loser closing down their business. Janelle narrowly beat Go-Go, as she was unable to use the brakes and burst past her at the finish line, and so Go Go Boys was closed down.

Just as Stingray was proving all his early critics wrong, completing year 12 and his final exams, his life was turned upside-down. An old enemy of Dylan’s, Roo Hausman, escaped from prison, having only been in there because Dylan had dobbed him in, and kidnapped Stingray with his accomplice, Terry White. They then lured Dylan to the car and forced him to rob a service station. Although it looked like the brothers were going to escape with their secret intact, Roo played one final card and anonymously tipped off the police about the location of the gun. Soon, fingerprints left Dylan as the only suspect and the police arrived at number 26 to arrest him. However, Stingray was home alone, and Dylan had already left for a joy flight to Tasmania, as part of Lassiter’s hotel’s anniversary celebrations. Stingray was taken in for questioning and he explained exactly what had happened, dragging in Toadie to represent him. Although the police, and Janelle, failed to be convinced by the story, everything changed when word came through that the plane had crashed in Bass Strait. As days went on, and Dylan was still unaccounted for, Stingray told himself that he wasn’t going to let Dylan’s memory be tarnished by his involvement in the robbery and would do everything he could to prove Roo’s involvement. But Roo had vanished and things were looking grim for Stingray as he was released on bail and his court case approached. With the help of Sky, who’d survived the crash, he headed to Colac and Roo’s old place, in the hope that they’d find him and get him to admit the truth.

Unfortunately, the plan backfired when Stingray was picked up by Stuart, but ended up missing his court case and was placed in remand. The case was then rescheduled, meaning that it would fall after Stingray’s 18th birthday and, if he were to be found guilty, he would be placed in an adult prison. Events then took a strange turn when Stingray was allowed out of remand to attend his brother’s memorial service at Lassiter’s, only for Dylan to appear during the ceremony. It seemed that he’d been on the run since the crash, but had read about Stingray’s imprisonment and had returned to clear his little brother’s name. With both brothers in remand, and no sign of Roo showing up, Dylan decided that he was going to take the rap for the whole thing and told Stingray to claim that Dylan had forced him to lie. In court, Stingray started off lying, but at the last minute, changed his story and tried to tell the truth. Judge Roy Evans had no sympathy for them and, with conflicting and constantly changing stories, he sentenced Stingray to four years in prison and Dylan to ten.

Upon their arrival at Warrinor prison, Stingray started to lash out and undo all of the progress he’d made with his ADHD since arriving in Erinsborough. After a couple of weeks of trouble, he started to find his feet and discovered that he had an ability to fix things, something that would serve him well in prison. However, as he and Dylan were starting to settle in, they were shocked when Roo was caught and placed in the same wing as them. Days later, Stuart also turned up in the prison, undercover as a prisoner named Mick Farrow. Although Stingray and Dylan were forced to pretend that they didn’t know him, it was all in vain, as Roo had been watching Stingray, with Sky and Stu, in Colac, and knew his new cellmate was really a cop. After a violent confrontation, Dylan and Roo ended up trapped in a cell together during a lockdown, and Dylan managed to get his old adversary to own up to everything, with the police listening in via a microphone hidden in a radio. Stingray and Dylan were released and arrived home on Christmas day, much to the surprise of the Timmins family. Stingray found it difficult to adjust and spent several days in his room, before starting to bond with neighbour Rachel Kinski, whose father, Alex, had recently died. He helped her to retrieve Alex’s pet turtle, William and the pair got on well, before she left with her brother Zeke, and Susan, her new stepmother. Meanwhile, having failed to complete year 12 due to recent dramas, Stingray was forced to contemplate another way to get into film school. When he heard about a film festival being held, he decided to make a movie and enter and so he began filming his friends, family and neighbours on the subject of happiness.

With the video completed, he found an unusual way to get it to Josh Nelson, the Dean of the film studies school at Eden University. After attaching a DVD player to a robot he'd built, he sent it to Josh’s house, where the man himself viewed it and was impressed enough to call Stingray in for an interview. He then happily informed Rachel, who had since returned from her trip to Belarus, that he was being given another chance to prove himself and had to make a photo story. Rachel helped him, taking pictures as Stingray went to take his driving test and the pair grew closer when Stingray was told that he could join the course in an unofficial capacity, sitting in on classes until someone dropped out and he could take their place. Stingray also helped Rachel, whose behaviour was becoming increasingly rebellious. However, when she showed her thanks by kissing him, Stingray was forced to let her down gently, pointing out that they couldn’t become a couple as she was only 14. Over the weeks that followed, Stingray’s confusion over Rachel, his inability to fit in a university, and a new job at the Scarlet Bar all combined to see him gradually become dependant on alcohol. Rachel quickly noticed that he was hiding beer bottles whenever she came near and tried to tell him that he had a problem and needed help. Stingray ignored her, and it wasn’t until they were doing some filming in Dylan’s car and the police approached him that he realised the seriousness of the situation. That morning, as he called in on Rachel, he had taken a can of beer from the fridge and, after the police breathalysed him, his P plates were taken away and he was banned from driving. As if things couldn’t get any worse, his feelings for Rachel were also growing and she admitted to Susan that she loved Stingray and that they had kissed. A shocked Susan reminded Stingray of the legal implications of him seeing a 14-year-old and told him to stay away from her. Despite his own feelings, Stingray followed Susan’s advice and, when Rachel turned up on the doorstep and begged to see him, he broke her heart and slammed the door in her face.

With Sky also facing heartbreak, having been dumped by Dylan following a one-night stand, she and Stingray found comfort in their friendship, but ended up taking things too far and having sex. Afterwards, they both agreed that it shouldn’t have happened and decided not to let it spoil their great relationship. Stingray then told Rachel that he had started seeing someone his own age, hoping that it would put her off completely. When he found out that Rachel was going on a date with Garrett Burns, who older brother Wayne had been a well-known thug during his own time at Erinsborough High, Stingray was determined to help Rachel. Rachel, however, was mortified when Stingray burst in on her and Garrett at the General Store and warned Garrett off. Back at number 26, Rachel asked Stingray what he was thinking and he finally admitted that he was in love with her. She returned his feelings and the couple realised that they had to be together and, since nobody would approve, they would simply keep the relationship a secret. At school, however, Rachel was in for a shock when she found out that Garrett had been telling everyone that she slept with him, calling her ‘Kinky Kinski’. Rachel ran off in tears to tell Stingray what had happened and he headed straight to the school to warn Garrett off. Garrett, however, wasn’t scared and simply made a jibe about Stingray finding a girl his own age, so Stingray punched him. The young couple quickly realised that they would have to be a lot more careful if they were to avoid Susan finding out about them, particularly as Bree already knew. They decided to stage a fight to throw Susan off the scent but she was suspicious of the amateur dramatics and Rachel decided that a safer idea would be to only see each other at night, so she started sneaking out in the early hours of the morning to see Stingray. Over the days that followed, Paul and Zeke both caught out the young couple and Janelle also caught them kissing in the kitchen of number 26, but agreed to keep it to herself, as long as there was no “funny business”.

When Rachel spotted Stingray and Sky sitting together outside the General Store, she soon realised that Sky was the mysterious girl Stingray had mentioned being with. She struggled to deal with this new information, and Stingray, hoping to make it up to her, arranged for a day out at a health spa. But they were unaware that Susan was booked in at the same spa, with Karl, who she’d been seeing in secret for few weeks, in the hope of sparing the feelings of Rachel and Zeke. It wasn’t long before the two couples ran into each other with both Susan and Rachel horrified at the deception. Things only got worse back at home, as Rachel, unable to deal with Susan apparently destroying Alex’s memory, decided to move out and stay with the Timmins family. When Katya was accidentally run down by Max Hoyland, Rachel agreed to go home for a while and, when Lyn wouldn’t let her return to number 26, she went to stay in the box room at number 30. Stingray, meanwhile, began to get frustrated with his girlfriend’s behaviour over the Karl and Susan situation, and told her that, if she wanted to be treated like an adult, then she’d need to start behaving like one. Rachel took this to heart and, after finally returning to live with Susan, and accepting her relationship with Karl, she told Stingray that she wanted a break from him too, as she had some thinking, and growing up, to do.

Stingray kept himself occupied with a video diary of Sky’s pregnancy – a baby she assured him was too far gone to be his, and was actually Dylan’s – but seeing Rachel around in the street every day quickly led him back to the booze. As his friends became alarmed by his strange behaviour, Stingray’s secret drinking started to get out of control, as he sipped alcohol during his shifts at the bar. One evening, he started chatting to a girl in the bar, Rebecca Naylor, and, since she’d been drinking, he agreed to drive her home. When they were then stopped by a police breath testing unit, Stingray quickly got out of the car and ran home, swimming through the river to escape the police. He arrived back at number 26 the next morning, dripping wet, and confronted by Rachel, who was preparing to walk to school with Bree. As police sirens could be heard in the background, Rachel immediately thought the worst, so Stingray told her the whole story and admitted that he had run because he couldn’t cope with being caught by the police again, not because of his drinking. When police officer Ray Moller then called by to ask Stingray a few questions about the previous night’s events, Stingray was relieved to realise that Rebecca hadn’t dobbed him in and he was just a witness, with the police hoping he’d seen her leave the bar. Rachel, meanwhile, decided that she wanted to get back together with Stingray and the pair happily reunited, and she asked him to accompany her to her school formal. With a little help from some more alcohol, Stingray attended some dance classes with her, but afterwards, he left an empty vodka bottle in the school toilets, and, when it was found, Rachel was immediately suspicious of her boyfriend and his actions the previous evening.

Rachel then decided that some shock tactics might be needed to snap Stingray out of his drinking spiral. After sending Zeke off to find Stingray, Rachel climbed onto the roof of the Kennedy house with a bottle of wine and pretended to be staggering around, drunk. When Stingray, a little tipsy himself, spotted her, he raced up the ladder to help, onto for it to fall away beneath him. After trying to cling onto the edge of the roof, he fell, landing awkwardly and badly damaging his groin. In hospital, Karl informed him that the injury might cost him his chance of ever becoming a father and, when Sky got to hear about this, she started to feel guilty about her secret – she believed Stingray, and not Dylan, was the father of her unborn child. As Sky stopped eating, as a way of coping with her guilt, she eventually collapsed and was admitted to hospital, where she told Dylan, now her fiancé, everything. Realising that Stingray was completely in the dark, Dylan picked him up back on Ramsay Street and took him out for drinks, pretending that it was his bucks’ turn. However, once they were alone, Dylan broke the news to Stingray that he was the father of the baby, before telling him that he no longer considered them brothers. To make matters worse, Janelle then told him to leave the Timmins house and Rachel, who had found out the truth from Karl and Susan, broke up with him. Although his brush with infertility had almost been the wake-up call he needed, once alone in a hotel room with a mini-bar, Stingray struggled to control his addiction. When his grandmother, Loris, who owned a 40% share of Lassiter’s and was paying for his room, noticed that he’d emptied the mini-bar, she confronted him and he admitted to having a problem, though he told her that he’d actually flushed the alcohol away to avoid temptation. Loris then dragged him off to an alcoholics anonymous meeting, but, as soon as her car left the car park, he walked off in the opposite direction.

With Sky then permanently in hospital, for the sake of her baby’s health, Stingray tried to visit, but ended up chatting to Sky’s roommate, Teresa Cammeniti. Teresa, cousin to the Timmins’ neighbour, Carmella, was suffering from a mental illness, thanks to Carmella selling her baby a year earlier and later learning that the baby had died. Teresa had become fixated on Sky’s unborn child and, when she saw Stingray standing in her way, she lied to him that Sky desperately wanted Dylan to be the father, as she didn’t think Stingray was stable enough. Sky was then confused as Stingray kept away, unaware that he was back in his hotel room, feeling useless and drinking once again, where Harold found him and urged him to get himself together. Sky eventually left the hospital to look for Stingray and, after leaving a message telling him what a great father he was going to be, headed to the hotel to see him. After convincing the receptionist to give her the room number for Mr Timmins, by pretending that the baby was coming, Sky headed up, only to be confronted by the wrong Mr Timmins – Dylan, along with a half-dressed Elle. The shock then sent Sky into premature labour. Stingray, meanwhile, had been taken to an intervention by Harold, where his family and friends tried to get through to him, only to be met with abuse. They then took him back to the house and tried to keep watch over him, but he managed to get his hands on the keys and escape through the back door. After getting his hands on some alcohol, he went to the park and finally listened to Sky’s message. Already drunk, he went and bought a teddy for the baby and headed to the hospital, only to be stopped by Karl and thrown out by security. Later that night, he returned amidst chaos - Teresa had set fire the hospital, hoping to steal the baby. Stingray, meanwhile, hung around and, when baby Kerry, having been checked over and given a clean bill of health, was left alone in a room, he snatched her. However, he only got as far as a patch of greenery just up the road, before passing out from a mixture of alcohol and smoke inhalation.

The following morning, Stingray was found by Rachel and Bree, but there was no sign of Kerry. After being questioned by the police, Stingray was taken into custody, as Kerry’s baby bracelet was found in his pocket and it looked like he was the last person to see the little girl alive. Only a couple of days later, Kerry was mysteriously left on the doorstep of number 24, hours after Stingray was released from the police station. It turned out that Dylan had found Kerry in his unconscious brother’s arms and taken her, realising after just one look that she was his child. His insistence that it was his baby continued as he told Sky what he had done, and, after speaking to Karl, who admitted that there was no certainty about the baby’s age, she agreed to have a DNA test carried out. Although the test showed that Dylan was Kerry's father, the entire experience was the jolt that Stingray needed to get himself some help for his alcohol problem, and he started attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

Stingray's love life took some interesting turns as 2007 began, and Rachel returned from a few weeks doing work experience for a country newspaper. She had come to the conclusion that she wanted to give her relationship with Stingray another try and he agreed, but it quickly became clear that it was no longer working for them. At the same time, Stingray's friendship with Sky was blossoming, as he helped her convince her mothers' group that she was a respectable married mother and went along as her partner to some events with her new colleagues at a graphic design company. But as they spent more and more time together, Sky and Stingray realised that they'd gone beyond being friends and had fallen in love. However, they were hesitant about taking things further, worried about how Dylan would react - luckily they had little to worry about, and he realised that, if he couldn't be around permanently as Kerry's dad, then Stingray was a good substitute. But their lives were all turned upside-down by the news that Kerry was suffering from leukaemia. And when Stingray was found to be the only suitable donor, he had no hesitations about going ahead with saving his niece, though Sky started suffering visions and nightmares about her boyfriend's death. As he prepared for the operation, Sky decided to show Stingray how much she loved him with a commitment ceremony, performed by Bree, who had been deigned a high priestess on the internet. Despite a few complications, Stingray pulled through the operation and, within a week, was released from hospital, with news following soon afterwards that Kerry was responding well. To celebrate, Stingray had a tattoo done with Sky and Kerry's names, and made a video for Kerry, telling her about all of her family members and their feelings on the day she was given the all clear. Later, as everyone gathered on Ramsay Street for a party to celebrate Janelle's birthday, Stingray felt tired and sat down to watch everyone enjoying themselves, only to quietly pass away from an aneurysm.

Trivia Notes
• Stingray has a tattoo of the name 'Shazza' on his bum, which he got in memory of a guinea pig he had as a child
• Stingray carried an organ donor card