Dudley Shepherd
Dudley Shepherd (2005-2006)
Terry Serio
Episodes: 4080-4104
Occupation: Bookmaker
When several of the Summer Bay residents spent a day at the race track, Dan went to see Dudley, a bookmaker who had been recommended to him by a friend. He bet $1000 on one of the horses, Sure Thing, and won. He continued to do business with Dudley, meeting him at the Diner to place a $5000 bet. Dudley agreed to let him have the bet on credit but it failed to come in. Angry at Dan’s inability to cover his debt, Dudley went to his house and threatened to tell Leah everything. Dan managed to persuade him to leave after she turned up and asked for another bet on credit to cover his debts…which also failed to come up.
Dudley then picked Ryan up from school and arranged a meeting with Dan and Amanda. He let them take Ryan away after Dan promised to pay up. Dan later went to meet him with $9000 that he had scraped together by selling his car but it failed to cover what he owed. Dudley ordered him beaten up and told him he now owed him another $2000.
Dudley then kidnapped Ryan and rang Dan, telling him he was keeping him until he paid all his debts and the amount he owed would go up $2000 every hour. When he rang Dan on the hour, he was furious to hear a police radio over the phone line, since Ken Harper and Lara Fitzgerald were with Dan, having been accidentally tipped off by Beth. Dan, Leah and Amanda went looking for Dudley and saw him driving in the opposite direction, with Ryan in the car. They chased after him and Dudley ran into Ken and Lara’s police car and was arrested.
When Summer Bay was hit by a storm, the police vehicle carrying Dudley was blown off the road and he managed to escape, although not without sustaining some minor injuries. He went to Dan’s house and took Leah hostage, saying they would wait for Dan and refusing to believe that they’d split up, especially when Dan tried to phone her while he was there. He fended off Leah’s attempt to attack him with a letter knife and, when a newly arrived Rachel turned up at the house and Leah tried to tip her off, took her prisoner as well. Rachel offered to tend his wounds and Leah took advantage of the distraction to send a text to Dan. A fight broke out and, even injured, Dudley seemed a match for the two women until Peter arrived and overpowered him. Dudley quickly found himself back in custody.