never forgives her. Claire returns and clashes with Pete. She blackmails him when she discovers his part in Josh's death, and uses the money to buy a share of the cybercafé. When Pete is acquitted of Josh's murder, he uses that to proposition her into giving him her shares of the cafe. Claire offers him 5% of her shares. She dates his rival Tom Shackleford (Tom Healy). Pete has a vendetta against the Shacklefords and forces George Shackleford (Miles Anderson) out of Charnham, when he finds out he is cheating on Pete's sister Diane Short (Pooky Quesnel) with Claire. Pete romances Tom's ex-wife Kate Matherson (Mary Stockley) and becomes a surrogate father to her and Tom's daughter, Harriet, much to Tom's annoyance. Their feud escalates and Pete accidentally causes a car accident that kills Kate and leaves Siobhan infertile. Pete begins a relationship with Charlotte Day (Leanne Lakey). She later proposes to him despite allegations that he has slept with Claire. Following advice from Siobhan that Charlotte may be his final chance of happiness, Pete decides to accept. However, Charlotte sleeps with Pete's nemesis Johnny Palmer (Iain Fletcher) multiple times. Pete learns of their affair and sets a trap. Claire has a fling with Johnny and they conspire to get revenge on Pete by faking Claire's death and framing Pete for her murder. Pete finds out and confronts Claire. She trashes her house to make it seem like Pete had broken in and murdered her. However the plan was ruined by Ben Galloway (Peter England). Claire continues to hide and fake her death, whilst Johnny blackmails Pete into giving him The Black Swan Pub. Johnny betrays Claire by revealing her whereabouts to Pete, forcing her to return. She leaves Charnham permanently. Pete enters into a rocky relationship with Charlotte's mother Eileen (Rosie Rowell) in December 2002. They briefly separate when Eileen sleeps with her daughter Lucy's (Julie Smith) boyfriend Jake Walker (Seb Castang). As revenge Pete sleeps with Lucy and humiliates her, causing her to attempt suicide. Pete is unaware that Eileen has formulated a plan with her former boyfriend Mike Shaw (Tony O'Callaghan) to marry Pete so she can divorce him and take half of his money, and have him put away for arson as revenge. Mike sets fire to the cybercafe in September 2003, which kills Roy whilst he is saving his wife, Nikki Farmer (Rebecca Blake). Pete