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Character Profiles > Matt Turner Josef Brown

Senior Constable Matt Turner 2013-2015
Lived: 32 Ramsay Street
Marital Status: Lauren Carpenter
Children: Mason, Amber, Bailey
Occupation: Police Sergeant, Police Senior Constable

Strict police officer Matt Turner moved to Erinsborough with his wife, Lauren, and their two younger children, Amber and Bailey, to take up a new job and be closer to Lauren's father, Lou. Matt and Lauren's marriage had weathered many storms, and the move was seen as a fresh start for all of them, though they were reluctant to speak about the events in their old Queensland home of Mount Isa that they were trying to move on from, and exactly why their eldest son, Mason, wasn't with them. Matt's first case in Erinsborough involved local tycoon Paul Robinson and some insulting graffiti on the walls of his hotel, Lassiter's. Matt quickly got the measure of Paul, but took on the case and found a paint can that led him to Ramsay Street resident Rani Kapoor, who mum Priya had been having an affair with Paul, which had destroyed her parents' marriage. Matt soon found himself making an enemy of Rani's dad Ajay as he pursued the matter, but it was Paul who brought the matter to a close, after pressure from Priya, when he made vital evidence go missing and told Matt that he would drop the charges and claim it was just a teenage prank. A frustrated Matt warned Paul that his days of using money to get his own way would soon be over.

Matt soon had other things to worry about, however, as he and Lauren realised that they were going to struggle to afford a home of their own in Erinsborough, as the prices were so much higher than in Mount Isa. And when their house was then broken into, and Lou came home and disturbed the burglar, Matt realised that it was going to be difficult to escape their past. With the family marking Mason's 18th birthday, and unable to tell Lou that he was actually in juvenile detention, it became clear that moving thousands of kilometres across the country might not have provided the fresh start that they were hoping for. Matt's fears seemed well-founded when he discovered that Mason had been released from the detention centre already, but hadn't joined his family in Erinsborough. With Lauren frantic with worry, Matt made sure that his old colleagues in Mount Isa were on the lookout, but eventually, Mason turned up, claiming that he'd turned over a new leaf and had been taking some time out to consider whether he really did deserve a fresh start with his family. However, once Matt and Mason were alone together, Mason made it clear that he could never forgive his father for shopping him to the police. Although Matt tried to tell his son that he'd only done it to try and save him from a life of crime - and to avoid time in adult prison once he was 18 - Mason warned his father that he would never forget what he'd done.

Matt was impressed as Mason seemed to be getting his life back on track with an apprenticeship at the local garage and a part-time job waiting tables at Lassiter's hotel. At work, he found himself investigating a series of small burglaries in the area, and thought that he recognised the man responsible when he saw some security camera footage. Matt quickly dismissed the thoughts, however, believing that the man he thought he recognised - Robbo Slade was miles away. Robbo had been involved in the warehouse robbery that had sent Mason to prison, and Matt couldn't believe that he would turn up and try the same trick in Erinsborough. Unfortunately for the Turner family, it was Robbo, looking for his share of the money that he'd dumped following the warehouse robbery, and he was already causing trouble for Matt's kids - he'd been secretly seeing a smitten Amber for months, and had now convinced Mason to help him rob Lassiter's, promising that he'd leave town once he'd got the money he was owed. When the Lassiter's robbery went wrong, Matt investigated but seemed to have hit a brick wall, with the only witness, Sonya Rebecchi, suffering amnesia. When some sketches came back from a woman who'd had her bag snatched near the hotel, Matt once again recognised them as Robbo and realised that perhaps he had come down from Mount Isa. Back at home, the truth about Amber's relationship with Robbo came tumbling out when a pregnancy test was found and, although she wasn't pregnant, Amber admitted that she'd been seeing him, with Lauren then learning that Bailey had been at the warehouse robbery and Matt had let him go. With Lauren struggling to cope with the secrets that her entire family had been keeping from her, it looked like the Turner marriage was about to go through a rough patch.

When the kids got sick of the bickering between their parents, they thought that a cricket game might help them all have some fun together. The plan ended badly when Lauren ended up hitting the ball straight at Toadie's crotch. The incident led to Matt and Lauren confiding their marital problems, separately, to Toadie and Sonya, who advised them to be honest with each other, and also decided that a meal with the happily-married Kennedys might also help. Lou also thought this to be a good idea, and joined his daughter and son-in-law for an awkward lunch with Karl and Susan, who went over-the-top in showing how happy they were, with lots of banter. Afterwards, the incident seemed to have brought Matt and Lauren closer, as they joked about their terrible afternoon and ended up falling into bed together. Afterwards, it seemed that things might be looking up for the family, with everything out in the open, but then Matt received a blackmail letter, sent from Mount Isa and warning him that the writer knew his secret - that he'd let Bailey go after the warehouse robbery. Realising that Robbo was the most likely culprit, the family pulled together to try and stop Robbo from wrecking things for them all over again. But when the letters turned out to be from Rhiannon, Mason's ex-girlfriend from Mount Isa, who was still angry with Matt for sending Mason to juvenile detention, the Turners felt that they could finally relax a bit.

Some weeks later, everything started to unravel for the Turners, when Sonya got her memory back. She reported Mason to the police for the Lassiter's robbery, and identified Robbo from photographs. Aware that if Robbo was found by the police, he'd tell them everything, Bailey decided to get in first, confessing his part in the warehouse robbery back in Queensland. When he realised what his son was doing, Matt owned up too and, as they all worried that Mason was about to be sent back to prison, Matt found himself suspended from his job. A few days later, Superintendent Duncan Hayes called Bailey and Matt in for a meeting, where he gave Bailey an official police warning, and told Matt that, since the crime happened in Queensland - outside of his jurisdiction - he would be receiving another chance, but would be demoted to Senior Constable. The Turners were very relieved with this outcome, and began to focus their efforts on helping Mason to get through his court hearing. When Mason agreed to let Paul's lawyer Tim Collins represent him, with Paul paying the fees, the Turners were grateful to have that financial burden removed, but Matt couldn't help being suspicious. Paul claimed that he was doing it for his niece Kate, who was dating Mason, but Matt continued to ask questions, and he and Toadie came to the conclusion that Paul didn't have Mason's best interests at heart, and, at the last minute, convinced Mason to be represented by Toadie. At the hearing, with positive characters statements from family and friends, Mason ended up with a three-year good behaviour bond.

Meanwhile, the Turners got some new neighbours when the Willises moved into 22 Ramsay Street. Matt was surprised to learn that Lauren had once dated Brad Willis, though she made it clear that it was a long time ago and it hadn't meant much to her. However, when the house in Mount Isa was sold and the family received the last of their possessions, Lauren was quick to try and hide an old sketchbook containing a drawing of a younger Brad. But Matt found it, and took it to get one of the sketches, of their old home, framed to put on the kitchen wall. Lauren was relieved that Matt hadn't seen the sketch, fearing that she'd have to be honest about how much Brad really meant to her, and how his return to Erinsborough had stirred up those old feelings again. She soon found a distraction though, when Harold's Store went up for sale, and Matt was surprised when Lauren suggested that they use the money from the sale of the Mount Isa house to buy it. Though Matt was reluctant, he eventually agreed to go ahead with the plan, and the fact that they managed to get in before Paul, who was also interested in the business, only made the deal sweeter for Matt.

After a few rough patches, Mason and Kate were determined to make a go of their relationship, but realised that things would never be that great if their families weren't getting along. A family dinner at the Turner house was arranged, with Kate and Paul invited along, and Matt already certain that the whole thing would be a disaster. The tension began almost immediately, with Paul making sarcastic comments about the French onion dip and the fact that they were having a barbecue, and bringing along his own wine. As the evening progressed, Matt and Paul continued to take shots at each other and the night ended badly. The next day, Kate asked Paul to try and make an effort, for the sake of her happiness, and so, as the owner of the building that housed Harold's Store, Paul was responsible for collecting the rent from Lauren, the leaseholder - Lauren was delighted when he handed her the bill, and she realised that he'd knocked off $50 a week. Matt, however, was furious, seeing this as another attempt by Paul to use money to control people - he confronted Paul and warned him that, one day soon, he was going to slip up and find himself in a situation that he wouldn't be able to pay his way out of. But just as things seemed like they were calming down for the Turners, with their new business a success and the kids all managing to avoid getting into trouble, Lauren admitted to Matt that she was feeling clucky, and wanted to have another baby. Though shocked at first, Matt slowly started to come around to the idea, as he saw how much it meant to her, but things were turned on their head when Lucas broke the news that he was going to have to sell the house. Having sunk all the money from the Mount Isa sale into Harold's Store, they had no way to buy it themselves, and were resigned to the idea that they'd have to move out of Ramsay Street, and find somewhere in a cheaper area. As if that wasn't enough to worry about, Robbo Slade then made a surprise return to Erinsborough and, after being arrested for his part in the Lassiter's robbert, was released on bail, and intent on making like difficult for the Turner family.

With Amber still unsure of her feelings for Robbo, Matt tried to warn her off, explaining that Robbo's father was also a criminal, and very charming, and had spent time in jail - and it seemed that Robbo was headed down exactly the same path. As Robbo had previously told her that his dad had died from cancer, Amber asked Robbo for the truth, and he told her that he was ashamed of his dad, and the way he'd treated his mum, and had wished that he was dead. Matt's plan backfired as Amber softened towards Robbo, and spent more time with him, eventually sleeping with him again. As Matt did his best to get Robbo out of their lives, whilst staying within the law, he was unaware that Robbo had recorded himself in bed with Amber, and was using it to blackmail Mason into handing over $10,000. With no hope of raising the money, Mason had turned to Paul Robinson for help. Matt was therefore completely in the dark about just how much his kids were still involved in Robbo's life, when Mr Slade found himself the victim of a hit-and-run. With Mason and Amber supposedly having alibis for the night in question, the investigations focussed on other locals, who all had reason to hate Robbo. With so many of his friends and family on the suspect list, however, Matt was soon taken off the case by heavy-handed homicide detective David Oakley and was forced to watch from the sidelines. When Kelly received Robbo's emails from the internet provider, Matt managed to sneak a quick look when she was out of the room, and noticed that he'd received a message from Lauren, and she'd sent one back, suggesting that they meet to try and resolve things. At home, Matt was shocked to realise that Mason already knew about the emails, as he'd stolen, and guessed the password to, Robbo's laptop. He persuaded Mason to hand it in, claiming he'd borrowed it not long before Robbo's death, and also told Lauren to own up about the emails. Matt was hopeful that this was the end of his family's involvement in the case, but the truth was about to come out.

Only days later, it was revealed that Hudson had been the one who ran down Robbo. The Turners and Willises were shocked as they realised just how deeply Imogen, Josh, Amber and Mason had been involved on the night of the hit-and-run, and Matt was further upset to realise that Mason had gone to Paul for help, instead of his own father. As Josh and Amber were banned from seeing each other, Matt struggled to even talk to Mason, and it was days before father and son finally spoke about what had happened. They made plans for a fishing trip, but when Mason cancelled at the last minute, Matt was very upset, realising that perhaps things could never go back to normal. However, during another argument, Mason said that Matt had always been harder on him that the other kids, and Matt realised that he was right, and could only say that it was because he was the oldest. They agreed to try talking things through from now on, and even ended up going on their fishing trip. As things with one of the kids were sorted out, it was Bailey's turn to cause problems, when he announced that he was planning to apply for Paul Robinson's new scholarship scheme, and hoped to go and spend time in a school in London, so he could be closer to girlfriend Rani. However, when Rani broke up with Bailey, telling him that she wanted a fresh start without a boyfriend, he lost interest in the scholarship idea. It was then Amber's turn to bring some drama to the Turner house, as she and Josh started moving towards a sexual relationship, leaving Lauren, and particularly Matt, very concerned. When Lauren returned home to find Amber and Josh in the spa one afternoon, she immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion, and when Matt heard about it, he assumed that Josh had been pressuring Amber to have sex. Storming over to the Willis house, Matt was embarrassed as Josh stood up to him, making it clear that he'd never put pressure on Amber, because he loved her. With the L word now being used, the Willis and Turner parents realised that it was time to back off, and let the kids figure things out for themselves.

When Paul started trying to get his old fraud convictions quashed, Matt became suspicious - but all was soon revealed when Paul announced, at the end of the annual Erinsborough fun run, that he was planning to run for Mayor. Desperate to avoid Paul having any more power in the local area, Matt tried to find someone else to run against him, and eventually Karl decided to launch his own campaign. Matt soon had other things to worry about, however, when he found Lauren's missing sketch of the Mount Isa house, at the local junk shop. Matt's happiness at having tracked it down soon evaporated when he noticed the sketch of Brad on the other side. Unable to understand why Lauren had kept it a secret from so long if she had nothing to hide, Matt made his feelings clear by moving into Lou's bedroom for a while. Thankfully, the Turners managed to patch up their differences and move on, though it wasn't long before disaster struck again, when Mason was accused of deliberately injuring Josh Willis, when an abseiling trip went wrong. With Josh's promising swimming career in ruins, Mason eventually managed to prove his innocence and the whole thing led him to the decision to leave Erinsborough for a fresh start in Darwin.

Following Mason's departure, Matt did his best to cheer up Lauren, but he was in for a huge shock when he found out what was really on her mind. As Lauren's mum Kathy arrived in town, Lauren was given some shocking news, and was finally forced to be honest with Matt about an event in her past. She explained to her husband that she'd been pregnant with Brad's child when she left Erinsborough back in 1994, and that she'd always believed that the baby, a little girl, had been stillborn as that was what Kathy had told her. As Lauren prepared to share that secret with both Matt and Brad, Kathy had confessed that actually the baby had survived and she'd had it illegally adopted out. Matt was left stunned, but realised that the events of the last year, and Lauren's reactions to Brad since he returned to town, were all down to the baby, rather than her still having feelings for her ex. Matt did his best to support Lauren as she threw her mum out, and broke the news to a shocked Brad and a furious Terese. The two families decided not to tell the kids yet, but Kathy managed to get in first and tell Bailey and Amber the truth. In a desperate attempt to make up for her past mistakes, Kathy then bought the house for the Turners and, before leaving, told Lauren that she would do anything she could to help if she ever decided to track down her long-lost daughter.

As the Turners and Willises started looking into ways to find the girl, Matt told them that they wouldn't be able to involve the police without Kathy, and the people who'd adopted the baby, being charged with kidnapping. They then decided that a private investigator might be a better option, but Bailey suddenly had a breakthrough after posting on an internet forum. Though Matt and Terese were wary, Brad and Lauren were both very enthusiastic about meeting the girl, Lisa Tucker, whose story seemed to fit with Lauren's. They had her flown down to Melbourne the next day, and everything seemed to be going well until, whilst at the hospital after Lauren cut her finger, they learnt that, due to their blood groups, there was no possibility that Brad and Lauren could be Lisa's parents. After a difficult goodbye to Lisa, Lauren decided that she couldn't continue with the search for her daughter, despite Brad's wishes to the contrary.

With the Turners' 20th wedding anniversary approaching, and Matt spending a lot of time at work, investigating the murder of Kate Ramsay, he decided that it might be time to treat Lauren with a surprise wedding vow renewal. As his plans took shape, they were almost derailed when Lauren found out that Brad had been using a private investigator to continue the search for their daughter and had found a strong lead in Adelaide. On the day before the renewal, Lauren and Brad left for South Australia and it looked like the ceremony would have to be cancelled, but as Lauren and Brad shared a motel room that night, they ended up sharing a kiss, and she, wracked with guilt, decided to return home the next morning. Unaware of her reasons for returning home so soon, Matt was delighted and everyone helped to get things ready for the surprise, with an overwhelmed Lauren attempting to forget what had happened the night before. She and Matt then renewed their vows, before he whisked her away for a few days in the country.

Upon their return to Erinsborough, things seemed to be going well for Matt and Lauren, though she was still wrestling with her conscience over her kiss with Brad. But the family found that they had something new to worry about, when Lauren and Matt found out that Bailey had been sneaking off and drinking alcohol. Bailey admitted that he'd just been struggling with things lately, and the weight of always being the sensible, level-headed one had become too much for him. The problem was quickly nipped in the bud, as Matt explained that his own father had been an alcoholic and it had affected his own parenting methods. With everyone being open about their problems, the family was brought closer together - just in time for Paige - who'd arrived in Erinsborough a couple of months earlier - to reveal that she was Brad and Lauren's long-lost daughter. Though Brad and Lauren were delighted, Terese and Matt were more wary of the girl who'd been lying to them, with Terese particularly determined to prove that she was nothing but trouble. After doing some asking around at the hotel, Terese learnt that Paige had been spotted running away from Harold's Store, on the same night that it had been trashed. Paige admitted that she was responsible, and that she'd been feeling terrible after Lauren had unwittingly sent her away from the Turner house. Though Lauren was understanding, Matt was forced to interview Paige about the incident, and when it emerged that Paige had other minor criminal charges, including shoplifting and arson, Terese felt that she'd been proved right, though Matt was now feeling guilty about the way they were treating Paige, and he slowly started to accept her as part of the family, as she moved in with the Turners and became a permanent fixture in the house.

Just as things were beginning to settle down for the Turners, a tornado hit Erinsborough and Lou was left badly injured when a beam fell from the ceiling at the store, trapping him by the throat. After being saved by Susan, he was taken to hospital, where, in his semi-conscious state, he mentioned the kiss that Brad and Lauren had shared in Adelaide, unaware that Matt was the only person in the room. The Turner marriage then faced a huge crisis, with Matt and Terese both struggling to forgive their spouses. However, when Terese suggested to Matt that they should spy on Brad and Lauren, sharing information on their whereabouts and keeping track of them, he was unable to go through with it, and told Lauren that he wanted to make their marriage work, even if he wasn't completely sure that he could do it. As Matt remained calm and quiet about things, Terese's paranoia only worsened, to the point that, in the middle of The Waterhole, she accused Lauren of trying to steal her husband, suggesting that she was still in love with him. Things also came to a head between Matt and Lauren when, after he was tempted to go to Sharon Canning's hotel room after Kyle and Georgia's wedding reception, he realised that he wanted to try to make his marriage work again.

Having worked to get the marriage back on track, Matt and Lauren faced a new crisis when the kids found out that they were the owners of 32 Ramsay Street. Ever the proud family man, Matt couldn't deal with the situation and decided that he wanted to buy the house back from them, finding extra work as a security guard to help cover the mortgage. Matt and Lauren quickly realised the financial strain they'd put on themselves and the kids agreed to loan them back the money, but disaster struc after learning that they were stealing cars, Matt claimed to Lauren that the money was from his police work, back pay after a computer error. When Brennan, who'd just returned to the police force, found this out, he quickly learnt that Matt was lying, following him to try and find out what was really going on. He then spotted Matt talking to, and taking money from, Dimato, and Matt was forced to be honest with Brennan and with Lauren about how deeply involved he was in Dimato's criminal dealings. Lauren was horrified, whilst Brennan agreed not to say anything, but suggested that Matt should take 6 months' long-service leave, and he would continue the investigations into Dimato in his absence, admitting that, if Matt's evidence were needed in the future, he might still have to come clean.

As Lauren struggled to forgive Matt, and he found it difficult to look his kids in the eye, he began drinking and avoiding spending time at home. And when Sharon returned to town, he found a sympathetic ear and went back to her hotel room, spotted by Terese as they kissed outside the door. Terese quickly realised that she had to stop them, and soon after, went to the room, dragging a half-dressed Matt away while Sharon was in the shower. With Brad suspicious of Terese's strange behaviour around Matt, she was forced to tell him what she knew, and Brad then confronted Matt. As the two men argued in the street, a car, driven by Danni Ferguson, who was distracted by a text, came speeding around the corner and Matt pushed Brad out of the way, but was hit himself. At the hospital, he came through surgery and a relieved Lauren told him how important he was to her, but a sudden bleed saw him rushed back into surgery, and the devastated Turner family were then given the news that he had died.

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