Ray Mullan

Ray Mullan was best known for his relationship with Louise Appleton. He first appeared as the mystery new buyer of Mill Cottage. He seemed keen to help Ashley Thomas in the church and all that he appeared to have was his dog – Bolan. Rodney Blackstock didn’t like Ray at first, as Ray had beat him to the purchase of Mill Cottage.

Ray started growing closer to Louise during 2002 and they started going out. But it was obvious that Ray had a darker, more menacing side to him. He got involved with Scott Windsor in a car scam, which was run by one of his right hand men, Tony. But Tony soon disappeared after Ray and Scott talked. Another example of Ray’s dodgy side was when he got involved with Chris Tate and his wife, Charity, through Tate Haulage. He wanted certain goods to be transported, but Charity and Terry Woods soon found out that there were more than just goods in the truck. They discovered that Ray had been bringing illegal immigrants into the country. When Charity confronted Ray, his nasty streak appeared when he pinned Charity up against the wall and threatened her. Despite all this, Louise continued to turn a blind eye to his activities unaware that Ray was hiding more than just his dodgy deals from his girlfriend, he had also hidden the fact that he had diabetes. He proposed to her in September 2002, but she turned him down.

The storyline leading up to Ray’s departure started rather simply, with Ray comforting Louise after a stalker started terrorising her. As the ordeal progressed Ray continued to comfort Louise, helping her as she got freaky phone calls, expensive gifts and lingerie through the post. Eventually the situation got so bad that just before Christmas, Ray proposed that he and Louise emigrate to Italy and she agreed but not before leaving a message on her stalker's phone before she left. On the way to the airport, Ray’s phone started ringing and she discovered that Ray had two phones and that one phone had a new voicemail message. Despite his attempts to stop her listening to the message, Louise did and heard her own voice. She realised that her stalker was right under her nose the whole time – it was Ray. As Ray started driving erratically, he explained his reasons for stalking her and the car crashed into a ditch. Ray was unconscious, but Louise managed to escape and ran to the village. Ray followed her though and they returned to Mill Cottage and trying to stop him following her, she grabbed a vase and hit Ray with it, knocking him back down the stairs and breaking his neck. Louise managed to cover up his murder and persuaded the police that someone must have broken into the house and killed Ray.