Dale Smith :: Profile continued

Things didn’t improve for Smithy and Callum, they kept digging away and squabbling with each other, and even had a tussle in the corridor at one point when the alpha male egos clashed after a hard day. Smithy is aware that something about Callum isn’t quite right though hasn’t been able to put his finger on it just yet.

Carly Samuels was a young teenage mum who lived with her own mother, Leanne, on the Jasmine Allen estate. Smithy could see she had real potential, she was bright, confident and wanted to better herself but unfortunately she’d fallen in with the wrong crowd. Smithy built up a rapport with her and attempted to help her see the error of her ways, succeeding in getting her to stop shoplifting and causing trouble and start looking after Brooke, her young daughter. However, as things were looking up for Carly, she was shot in a drive by shooting – she’d only been there to finish things with her boyfriend, Marlon Reid. Smithy is devastated when she dies at St Hughes, despite his attempts at CPR, and he stuck close to the case, acting as the Family Liaison Officer for Leanne.

Smithy struggled to keep an increasingly hysterical Leanne under control and battled to help her when she attempts suicide. Carly’s best friend, Alisha Daniels struggled with her conscience over her alibi for her boyfriend, Tito Morientes, the prime suspect in the drive by, and Smithy promised her protection if she spoke out. Alisha finally cracked and admitted being in the car and named those in the car as Tito, Joel Pearce – and the father of Carly’s baby, Dwayne Fox. Unfortunately, Alisha is knocked over in a hit and run as she tried to apologise to Leanne for not coming clean sooner and her father refuses to help once at the hospital, fearing the worst for his daughter. Smithy begs Alisha to help and was thrilled when she agreed to give evidence, but as they drive to court, another car pulled up to the side of them and rammed their car off the road, forcing the patrol car to flip over onto its roof, leaving PC Tony Stamp to rescue them from the overturned car. With the man who did it, Spencer Wright, arrested and at the station Sun Hill faced another battle on its hands as Rahim Wood stirred up trouble and caused a full blown riot on the estate. With Rahim arrested and interviewed he tells the officers that Dwayne was the one who shot Carly and Smithy frantically went on to search for proof that Dwayne deliberately aimed for Carly and uses it alongside Alisha’s testimony, getting all three boys sent down.

Smithy was later sent undercover with DC Stevie Moss posing as his girlfriend to expose a gun running racket, drawing on his SO19 experience. Smithy initiates himself with the head mans nephew, Kieran Wallace and is accepted as one of the team once he proves himself, despite initial jealousy from Bob Gatting’s associates. Whilst working for Gatting, he comes across a gun that was used in a murder that Sun Hill had been investigating. DS Max Carter forces Smithy to ‘borrow’ the gun so it can be forensically tested and sends it back with DC Stevie Moss after pulling favours to rush it through. Smithy is almost caught out but manages to get the gun back in the safe before anyone gets too suspicious. Eventually Smithy meets the gang leader for the new deal and witnesses Kieran getting a beating – one he’d managed to talk himself out of.

Smithy is sent alone to collect the shipment whilst the gang hold on to Stevie as insurance. Angry at what had happened, Kieran turns up and threatens to undermine the deal and expose Smithy’s cover. In an effort to contain everything as best he can, Smithy is forced to reveal himself and his cover. Furious, Kieran takes aim ready to kill him, despite Smithy’s attempts to talk him down. Smithy is forced to shoot him to save his own life and the lives of those around him. Shell shocked but comforted by Gina, Smithy is cleared by an enquiry as the shot was clearly in self defence and he continues to work at Sun Hill.

During the undercover case, Smithy and Stevie had grown increasingly close and had shared a few secretive talks and kisses away from the CCTV monitoring Smithy’s ‘house’. At Sun Hill afterwards, the two clear the air and Stevie confesses that it was Lawrence – Smithy’s edgy undercover persona – she was attracted to and not Smithy himself.

Disillusioned by the job, Gina starts to act out, pulling out all the stops to help a young boy who is found beaten and in possession of counterfeit notes. Concerned at his friend’s erratic behaviour, Smithy is frustrated when she refuses to discuss it and he suspects she lied about seeing a gun before sending SO19 in to arrest the boy’s aunt. The two have a sharp exchange of words and Smithy snaps that she should resign, immediately apologising after. Gina continues to brush off his concern, though is horrified when Smithy is taken hostage with a classroom of children by a mentally unstable man with a gun. Shaken to the core after believing Smithy had been killed after a shot is heard, Gina decides to retire with immediate effect, packing up her office after a tearful goodbye with Smithy and new Sgt Rachel Weston is appointed as her successor after Gina points out that neither Smithy nor Callum would like to be inspector.

After investigating the serious assault of a taxi driver on the Jasmine Allen, Smithy is reunited with Leanne Samuels, the mother of murdered teenage mum, Carly Samuels. Leanne is friends with the two suspects and covers for them initially before confessing that she had been babysitting Ellie’s daughter at the time of the assault, putting both girls in the frame. Afterwards, Leanne and Smithy catch up and Leanne playfully chastises him about not visiting her. Smithy admits that he doesn’t know how to grieve and move on and that he was too scared to visit her to have it all flood back. Leanne comforts him and tells him she is about to be married and tells him that she’ll put him on a table of eligible attractive females for him to take his pick from.

When Nate is assigned as School Safety Officer for Deansgate Comprehensive, he is initially annoyed, though when Smithy is stabbed after helping him attend a call about a fight he is determined to see it through and get to the bottom of the attack. After the suspect is caught, Smithy makes a full recovery and helps support Nate to realise just how good an officer he is – and how much he is maturing.

Things continued bubbling under the surface between Smithy and Callum, especially after they were forced to work together when their cases – a domestic burglary and an assault – are linked. Their investigation leads them to a bar where the owner, Jason Devlin, immediately winds up both Smithy and Callum. When the burglary turns out to be false – the two victims are brothers and the ‘stolen’ watch a gift, they are initially forced to drop the investigation into Devlin. However, an arson attack restarts the investigation and the boys are only too pleased to get stuck in and they discover that the Devlin’s are up to their necks in illegal activities, including running a slum housing illegal immigrants.

Smithy later risks his life when he and PC Ben Gayle witness a driver abandon his lorry, only to discover a number of injured illegal Afghani immigrants. Smithy manages to free a young girl but is unable to get to her father to free him and he later dies in St Hughes. At a refugee centre, Smithy attempts to build bridges to find someone to identify the dead man, but his good work is ruined when Jason Devlin turns up to evict the immigrants with a group of thugs. DC Stevie Moss is tasked with dragging Jason away to safety, but after she attempts to look in the boot of his car, he turns on her and beats her, only to be dragged off and badly beaten by an angry Smithy.

Continued