Episode 5222

Extended Summary

The real Shandi Palmer reveals that the person everyone thought was her is in fact a woman named Daria Hennessey – she was Shandi’s best friend in childhood, but she’s also a con artist. Shandi is dismayed when she finds out Daria’s sole purpose for coming to the bay was to extort money out of her estranged father John. Robertson asks where they’ll be able to find Daria, but all Shandi knows is that Daria was last heard to be in some caravan park somewhere down the coast. Robertson later confides to Leah that he’s beginning to think he was wrong about Alf….

Charlie goes to see Angelo in the hope that he still has the receipt with Daria’s address on it. With this clue in hand, Charlie and Angelo set off down the coast to track her down. They head to a caravan park where Angelo shows a park worker a picture of Daria. He claims he doesn’t know her, but the story changes when Angelo bribes him and explains that he’ll be in his car if Daria would come to see him – giving the name of Will Smith. Daria shows up and isn’t impressed to find Angelo waiting for her, less so when Charlie then appears to arrest her for fraud. She denies any wrongdoing and tries to escape, but fails. She’s brought back to the police station in handcuffs where she still proclaims her innocence.

John feels extremely foolish when Charlie reveals the girl he thought was his daughter was in fact a con artist. Finding out that his actual daughter is in Summer Bay, John is reluctant to make the same mistake again and decides he shouldn’t meet her, after all she hasn’t shown any interest in making contact. Gina decides to take charge and contacts the police station to invite Shandi to meet John. The meeting goes well, and Shandi says that it was great to meet him, but then explains that she probably won’t be keeping in touch. Her mother’s partner has always been a father to her, and she would feel like she’s betraying him. John though disappointed, understands and they say their goodbyes.

Morag is pleased about the development, the fact that ‘Shandi’ was a con-artist casts doubt on the reliability of her statement about the night Penn was murdered. If they can prove reasonable doubt then there’s a possibility the charges against Alf can be dropped. Meanwhile, Irene is on the phone to Will pleading with him to turn himself in, for Lily’s sake if anything, but he hangs up on her. Irene tells Robertson about the call she received but isn’t able to help with any details on where he is – other than he’s obviously in a caravan park or hotel. At the same time, Lily is texting VJ – but he keeps quiet when Roberston asks if he’d heard from her. When Leah finds out, she marches VJ down to see Robertson, where he says that he knows where Lily and Will are staying. Charlie and Robertson head to the motel, only to find Will and Lily have already left.