PC Gabriel Kent   played by Todd Carty

First appearance    # 126 (02/07/03)     

On the surface, Gabriel Kent seemed like a nice enough guy. He was clever, physically and mentally strong and quick to win peoples' confidence and trust. But he could also be two faced - pretending to be friendly with someone whilst quietly putting them down behind their back, especially if it meant gaining points with his seniors.

Gabriel spent years in the navy before becoming a police officer. He wasn't very popular with the other sailors and had a reputation as a bit of a bully. He also had a volatile temper, which he had since learnt to control - but in all honesty, if someone hit him, Gabriel found it very difficult not to hit back. Gabriel also had a criminal record. He assaulted someone when he was in his late teens and got into a lot of trouble for it. In Gabriel's version of the story, the beating sounded perfectly justified - he was protecting his girlfriend when things got out of control. The real truth of the story remains to be seen. As he was young and hadn't been in trouble since, it wasn't enough of an offence to keep him from joining the force.

Gabriel was surprised by just how much hard work it was to be a police officer, but he was an effective copper and never shied away from a confrontation. He certainly wasn’t a push over and had his sights set on joining CID. Essentially, Gabriel seemed like a regular guy, but he was actually manipulative, divisive and cruel – something the relief came to realise over time. Apart from telling tales between colleagues and causing friction amongst officers at the station, he led a crusade against a paedophile - and beat him up when the law could not deal with him - and arranged for a loan shark to get a good hiding when he was causing trouble on a local estate.

Gabriel's list of misdemeanours grew longer and longer over time. When it materialised that he was at Sun Hill under a false ID (a rouse he concocted to make June Ackland believe he was her son), Kerry Young threatened to reveal the truth. Taking drastic measures to silence the woman he'd violently raped, Gabriel gunned her down outside the station. He was also responsible for feeding information to the Sun Hill sniper - and managed only to prevent his colleagues uncovering his involvement in the scam by pushing the Sniper off the top of a block of flats. When undercover reported Andrea Dunbar began to cast aspersions over his murky past, and discovered his true identity, he left her to die in the inferno that engulfed the station in early 2005. Fortunately though some of his colleagues kept digging and it wasn't long before the extent of his deranged activities was revealed.

In the end, Gabriel realised his time was up and chose to jump to his death from a block of high-rise flats after a violent struggle with Sgt. Smith.