Characters

Robert Henderson

Currently

Robert ran away from Shieldinch after turning violent and holding Shirley and Nicki hostage.

Biography

Robert returned to Shieldinch when his estranged brother, George, announced that he was dying. Robert initially took the news very badly, and raged at George for being selfish and getting back in touch only to tell him that he was going to die.

Tensions ran even deeper when George revealed that Robert had had an affair with Moira several years ago, and that this had caused a huge divide between the two of them, but the brothers made amends, and Robert was a great support to the family in George's final days. But on George's death bed, a terrible family secret was revealed. It turns out that Robert is actually Alice's real father, and that Moira chose George over Robert to bring up the child. Robert has done his best to win the family round, and appears to have made good headway, even with Deek, who was horrified to discover that Robert was his natural grandfather…

But Robert started to behave suspiciously and show a darker side to his character: breaking into Shirley's flat whilst she was in Spain; clearing out George's belongings; destroying George and Shirley's wedding tape… Nicki is the only one who suspected Robert of being a bad 'un, and came up against Robert's wrath. He intimidated her; framed her for stealing Shirley's locket; and tried to oust her from the family nest. Nobody believed poor Nicki and it took a very serious turn of events to convince people of Robert's true personality.

He tried to ingratiate himself with Shirley but when she caught him vandalising George's bench she was horrified. He yelled at her and she ran to the safety of her home. She didn't know he'd stolen a set of keys and he followed her in, holding her and Nicki hostage. He revealed he wanted what George had and tried to force himself on Shirley, leaving Nicki bound and gagged. Luckily, Malcolm and Billy discovered their shared suspicions and they managed to break in to intervene. In a violent struggle, Billy was stabbed in the arm and Nicki left unconscious as Robert ran off into the night. His victims have recovered but everyone's terrified he'll return.