Ray Walters was a local drug dealer and also seen as a son to drug boss, Celia Daniels, who took him in off the streets when he was a child.
Biography[]
Ray had an impoverished childhood and was raised by his grandfather until he was eight years old, when his grandfather died, which left Ray on the streets. After this, Ray turned to crime and while stealing from stores in a shopping centre when he was ten, he was caught by Celia Daniels, who sat him down and gave him a row for stealing. Celia took Ray in and raised him as her son, but when Ray misbehaved, Celia was tough with her discipline, making Ray fear her. At some point, Ray was brought into Celia's drug operation and worked his way to becoming her right hand man.
In 2025, Ray found teenager ex-addict Dylan Penders in a hostel and offered him a job to help him get out out of poverty. Ray employed Dylan to do odd jobs for him and the two bonded as Ray groomed Dylan into thinking that he was the only one who cared about him.
In July 2025, Ray turned up at Butlers Farm after being contacted by Mackenzie Boyd to buy a weed crop in July 2025, but he only found Robert Sugden in the kitchen and the two struck up a conversation, with Ray giving Robert his card. He later finds Mackenzie arguing with Ross and Lewis Barton in the barn full of cannabis plants and tried to see through his deal with Mackenzie, but Lewis insisted the plants aren't for sale, forcing Ray to leave empty handed.
Later that day, Robert arranges a meeting with Ray and presents Lewis' cannabis plants to him, having stolen and put them in the back of a van. Ray hands over a wad of money to him and tries to make a deal for any more drugs Robert might have, but Robert insists it is purely a one-off, telling Ray he intends to use the money to cause mayhem. Ray doesn't believe that Robert gave him all the plants and sends Dylan, along with another of his employees, to inspect the barns at Butlers Farm, only for Kyle Winchester to stab Dylan in the leg with a pitchfork. After the boys failure, Ray propositions for Robert for more business, but Robert assures Ray that the weed operation was a one-off and insists that neither Mackenzie nor Ross can ever learn he stole from them.
In August 2025, Ray seized the moment to approach Dylan after seeing him in the village. Dylan apologises for botching the last job and Ray comforted him, slipped him some cash, promising another job as soon as he is well. Later, Ray spots Dylan talking with his girlfriend April Windsor and made a call, suggesting April could be useful for the drug operation. Shortly after Ray watches Dylan and April together, then he slipped Dylan some cash to treat her, using Dylan's insecurity over his inability to pay for nice things to manipulate him into taking more jobs.
By September 2025, he coerces April into joining Dylan in running errands and sends her to a rough area of town to do a drug drop, as she looks less suspicious than Dylan. He then tells April to do one more job before she and Dylan can move on, but she is robbed and loses a stash of drugs, which angers Ray. He insists they work off whatever losses she causes, but later meets with the boy who robbed her, as he had arranged for April to lose the drugs so she would think she owed him. Ray continues to ingratiate himself with Dylan, acting like a mate and paying for him to learn to drive, but Ray is irritated when Dylan bonds with Paddy Dingle, who has taken him in off the streets.
Then, in early October, Ray tells April that she can pay off her debt quicker if she starts dealing drugs, instead of just dropping them off, sending her to the uni halls in Leeds for an easy first job. A few days later, April accidentally drops some pills at home, and her younger brother Leo swallows one, ending up in hospital. Ray's involvement in this incident deepens the risk as he puts pressure on April to keep quiet and he uses the situation to tighten his hold over her. However, April starts to disobey Ray's instructions, so he asks Celia to deal with her, leading Celia to confront April, slapping her and threatening to hurt her her family if she speaks out. That evening, Ray goes to Celia's farm and is chastised by Celia for being weak, with her calling him "useless", "pathetic" as she demands he become tougher in managing April.
As Celia publicly asserts her control over the operation leaving Ray reduced to following her orders, he does his best to keep April in check by using the fallout around Leo's hospitalisation to his advantage as leverage to keep April tied into the operation. When her stepmother, Rhona disowns April over what Leo went through, Ray offers April a place to stay in his home, using that as a method of control, but he is annoyed when she chooses to live with her grandfather, Bob Hope, instead.
On Celia's orders, Ray then tries to bring April into sex work and sets her up with a client, but April runs away once she realises what the man wants. Ray confronts her over this and after an argument, April promises to do better next time, but Celia tells Ray to send someone else on the next job as April needs more time. Soon after, Ray sends Dylan on a job to Hull, forcing him to cancel his plans with Paddy, and Ray is angry when Dylan hands over the money in public later that day. This proves problematic as Ray is forced to hide the money outside Dale View when DS Carter spots him and starts to ask questions about the increased drug presence in the area. Once Ray gets rid of her, he tries to go back for the money but it was picked up by Lewis, who took it into the house and Ross forced Ray to leave when he tried to steal it back.
The next day, Ray ordered Dylan to get the money back, but this backfired as Dylan stole the money and planned to use it to run away with April. However, Ray found the two at a bus stop that evening and took the money back, before ordering Dylan to get in the car and telling April that if she wanted to see him alone again, then she was going on another job. On 31st October 2025, Ray sent April to a hotel room to meet a man named Callum Swift, but April lost it when he started touching her and hit him over the head with a bottle. When she told Ray what happened, he said that Callum had died, though this later proved to be a lie to further control April, and Ray promised to cover for her as long as she stayed in line.
During his time in the village, Ray had also developed an interest in Laurel Thomas while frequenting the Hide Bar & Bistro, where she worked. In November 2025, Ray was invited to Laurel's house and they spent some time together, before being joined by Marlon Dingle and his wife Rhona, April's parents. Ray was awkward around them at first, but stayed to be with Laurel and later opened up to them about his past, ignoring a call from Celia in the process.
Later that month, it was revealed that Ray and Celia had been keeping slaves on the farm after he tracked down a runaway slave, Anya Berisha, beat her badly and brought her back to the farm. It was also shown that in July, Ray had found a confused Bear Wolf living in his car and got him to work as a slave under the name Edward. Over the next few months, Ray had gotten several more slaves including a young man named Mick, and Simo, who Ray once beat for stepping out of line. Ray was tough on the slaves and showed little concern for their well being, though at times he seemed to bond with Bear.
After her return, Anya fell ill and Bear refused to leave her side until Ray said that he would stay with her while Bear went to work. He also made Ray promise that he would get antibiotics for her, but Ray got distracted as he spent the day with Laurel and her daughter Dotty instead. On 21st November 2025, Celia's landlord Kim Tate came to the farm for an impromptu inspection and Ray tried to keep the slaves away from her, but Kim got suspicious when she heard noises from upstairs, leaving Celia to drive her away. Once she was gone, Celia angrily rebuked Ray for failing to keep quiet and insulted Laurel, frustrating Ray. Later, he went to the barn the slaves lived in and told Bear he had the medical supplies for Anya, but a miserable Bear informed Ray that Anya was already dead. At first Ray calmly demanded proof, but after he saw her body he was left visibly shaken as Bear cried over her.
The next day, Bear confronted Ray for dumping Anya's body in one of the sheds and pinned him to the wall, so a fearful Ray promised to arrange a proper funeral for Anya to placate him. After Bear had calmed down, Ray told Celia about his promise and she said that a funeral was a good idea, getting Ray to bring Bear to one of Moira Dingle's fields that night, where Ray and Bear had to dig Anya's grave. Following Anya's death, Ray kept giving Bear pills to keep him docile and was pleased when Bear told him that Mick and Simo were planning to run away from the farm, allowing Ray to stop them. A couple of days later, Ray brought Mick back to the barn, but told Bear not to worry about Simo as he would not be coming back.
Quotes[]
"Is erm, is Mackenzie around?" (First line, to Robert)
"Laurel, Laurel! Laurel, please don't do this! Laurel! Laurel!" (Last line, after Laurel slams her front door shut on him)