Gabriel Kent

Infobox character
name = Gabriel Kent (Real name David Kent)


caption = Todd Carty as PC Gabriel Kent
first = Episode 126 (02/07/2003)
last = Episode 353 (06/10/2005)
cause = Deceased - suicide
occupation = Police Officer
title = Police Constable
callsign = 416
portrayer = Todd Carty

Gabriel Kent (real name David Kent) was a fictional character in "The Bill". He was played by Todd Carty from 2003 to 2005.

Personal life and background

Gabriel was a main feature in many of "The Bill"'s darkest and most sensational storylines, where he committed crimes of perjury, fraud, rape, murder and pretend incest.

On the outside, Gabriel appeared to be a respectable police officer, but he was just as quick to exploit trust as he was to gain it. Before joining the Metropolitan Police, Gabriel spent sixteen years in the Royal Navy. He was not highly regarded by other sailors and was thought of as a bully with a short temper. [http://thebillbios.co.uk/kent.htm PC Gabriel Kent] , The Bill Biographies]

Gabriel first appeared as a stranger who frightened away a mugger from off-duty Sergeant June Ackland before he joined Sun Hill. His reasons for joining became evident to June when they began a relationship: June had given birth to a boy following her rape at 15 years old; she had put the baby up for adoption, now Gabriel was posing as that boy, although he was in fact his adopted brother.

Throughout his time on "The Bill", Gabriel evolved from a bullying bigot into a serial killer.

Early events

Gabriel used unorthodox methods to stop criminals, exerting physical violence and fabricating evidence. He was assigned as the community officer for the Cole Lane Estate for a period where he continued to issue his own brand of justice, such as hiring people to beat up local drug dealers and paedophiles. His behaviour was reported by Laura Bryant, a Cole Lane resident at the time.

When Gabriel arrived in the series, he was immediately at the centre of one of "The Bill"'s most controversial storylines, when he seduced June. Later, he produced his adopted brother Gabriel's birth certificate claiming it was his and that he was the son she had given up for adoption. He later repents, however, after discovering Gabriel's birth had been the result of a rape when June was only a teenager.

The "Sun Hill Sniper"

For many months, Sun Hill was terrorised by a serial sniper, who targeted criminals. There were suspicions that Gabriel was the sniper, but Gabriel appeared to be cleared when he was almost shot by the sniper himself when dealing with a suspect. It was later revealed that the sniper was Jason Hardy, an ex-Navy friend of Kent's, Gabriel held many grievances against criminals in the community, and supplied many of the names of targets to Hardy. When the net began to close in on Hardy and officers arrived to arrest him, Kent was one step ahead of them and threw Hardy from his high-rise balcony to protect his secret. PC Steve Hunter witnessed this, but Gabriel convinced him that he was trying to hold onto Hardy to prevent him falling, when in fact he had let go of his hand deliberately.

Rape and Murder of Kerry Young

For sometime, Gabriel had been obssessed with his colleague, PC Kerry Young. Following her string of unsuccessful relationships and an unofficial rape allegation that Gabriel persuaded her to make, he blackmailed Kerry for neglecting her duty during an armed robbery at a bank, but not before brutally raping her. Kerry, however, was not as easily deceived by his somewhat honest appearance. Upon discovering his true identity, she vowed to reveal it to the rest of the officers, but Gabriel used Hardy's sniper rifle to shoot Kerry dead in the arms of her utterly devoted boyfriend Sergeant Dale Smith outside the station from a nearby rooftop.

However, he then regretted killing her after he discovered that following the vicious rape, she was pregnant with his child when she died. To cover his tracks as a rapist and murderer and out of his jealousy of Kerry's love for Smithy, Gabriel publicly announced Kerry's pregnancy to the relief and lied to them by saying that he and Kerry were an item in her last months of life. But knowing that none of Gabriel's stories about Kerry made sense, Smithy was not as easily fooled as everyone else and when he discovered that Kerry had claimed that Gabriel raped her before she died, everything finally began to add up. Out of his love for Kerry, Smithy swore to expose Gabriel as a rapist and avenge Kerry's death.

Gabriel's true identity

A fellow officer, Andrea Dunbar, discovered Gabriel's true identity after finding a photograph of Hardy and him together in the Navy. After she was exposed as an undercover journalist, Gabriel confronted her and admitted all of his crimes. He appeared repentant and ready to give himself up, until disaster struck at Sun Hill: misguided PCSO Colin Fairfax drove a petrol-laden van through the reception of Sun Hill station, which was followed by a huge explosion. Minutes later, Gabriel seized his opportunity for a second chance and left Andrea to perish in the resulting fire.

Gabriel was hailed as a hero after he rescued Sergeant Smith from the fire. He appeared to be a changed man, keeping himself out of trouble and performing good police work. He later began a relationship with PC Sheelagh Murphy and the two became engaged.

But he hadn't changed at all because Gabriel's world started to collapse when his brother, the real Gabriel Kent, showed up at the station asking to see his mother. Gabriel tried to convince his colleagues that his brother, David, was an insane person who had stolen his identity. Immediately after the real Gabriel was shot and fell off a balcony during a siege at Sun Hill station, Gabriel visited him in hospital and threatened him to keep quiet about his identity. Suspicious and with some convincing by Sergeant Smith and PCSO Laura Bryant, Sheelagh sneaked into Gabriel's house to check his identity papers, only to be caught by him. After beating and tying Sheelagh up, he made his way to the hospital to try to kill the real Gabriel by suffocating him with a pillow. As he thought his brother was dead he left; luckily doctors saved him without him knowing.

But the fake Gabriel knew his time was running out and as he and Sergeant June Ackland investigated a disturbance in a block of flats, he dragged her up to the rooftop, vented all his remaining anger on her, handcuffed her to the railing, blamed his troubles on her and confessed all to his evil crimes. Luckily, Sergeant Smith climbed up to where they were in time to save June and the two men had an agressive fist-fight after Gabriel confessed to the rape and murder of Sergeant Smith's beloved girlfriend Kerry Young.

Trapped on the rooftop, Gabriel threw himself off the building to his death to avoid spending the rest of his menacing life in prison.

References