Steven Richardson played by Vince Martin

Episodes 248 - 318

When Claire Fielding introduced us to her karate teacher Steven Richardson, who would’ve guessed that we were witnessing the beginnings of Westside’s newest serial killer? Good guy Richo by day and scary Mr Bad by night, it was only a matter of time before the two intertwined. Steven was a well-respected member of the Westside community, he had good friendships with Bob and Elly and the kids of E Street. We first met Steven when Claire introduced him to Dr. Virginia Travis, who was looking after Claire whilst her mother Elly was away. Virginia was quite smitten with Steven and he seemed to like her too. They went on a date and then went back to Virginia’s house where they talked about their past relationships. Virginia told Steven how her husband Rod, who also took away her son Danny, had left her. Whilst Steven talked about a long relationship that had ended a long time ago, he didn’t give much away about his past. On the day that Elly came home there was a huge party for her, which Steven attended. Everyone was thrilled that he and Virginia were an item, except Sheridan who acted strange towards Steven all day. She was a bag of nerves whenever he went near her, resulting in her spilling her drink down herself. Virginia was concerned and asked Steven if he and Sheridan had some sort of history or knew why Sheridan had told Virginia to stay away from Steven. Steven said he had no idea what was wrong with Sheridan. Later Claire told Steven that Sheridan started to act strange after she had sung her the lullaby that Steven had taught her, at which point Claire and Steven sing the lullaby only to be interrupted by Sheridan. Steven confronts Sheridan and asks her what her problem is, but she leaves and tells him to stay away from her.

No content with someone having a grudge against him, Steven visits Sheridan at her office and warns her to keep out of his relationship with Virginia. However Steven and Virginia’s romance is already on the rocks and he is shocked when she tells him she is going back to Melbourne. He says that she has hurt him and that she’ll never know how much. It doesn’t end there though and Steven follows Virginia on her way to Melbourne, he pulls up alongside her and asks if she will go to his house for a goodbye drink. She doesn’t want to but reluctantly agrees. Back at Stevens house we gain an insight into his troubled life as he tells Virginia that she is the only one he can trust, she begins to get scared by him and heads for the door. However Steven has locked the door and there is no way out, despite her pleas and their continued conversation, Steven is a man on the edge and he strangles Virginia. As she takes her last breath, we see a jewellery box fall to the ground playing the lullaby that Steven had taught Claire and that had triggered Sheridan’s suspicions. Steven takes Virginia into the forest and buries her there. He then goes to Sheridan’s office and watches her as she is sleeping, when she wakes up she is horrified to see him standing over her with a painted face – half black and half silver. Sheridan is in deep shock and Steven runs away before he is caught. Back at his house he burns Virginia’s possessions and hides her car. By this time Sheridan’s brother Michael is concerned about the affect Steven is having on his sister, using his journalist skills Michael pays a visit to Steven’s mother who is sick in hospital. Steven’s mother says that Steven is a bad boy, but before she can tell us anymore Steven arrives and warns Michael to stop prying into his life. Steven sits with his mother as her condition worsens and instead of calling for help he watches her die. Steven now begins his terror campaign on Sheridan and as she closes her wardrobe door she is horrified to see him standing in her room, with his face painted as Mr. Bad. Steven tells Sheridan that he is her past, her future, and her nightmare. He tells her that if she touches him it will become real, she touches him and smudges the make-up on his face and wipes it on her face.

The confrontation between the two gives Steven a power over Sheridan and the next morning he receives a dinner invite from her. He attends the dinner with Michael and his wife Lisa and is pleased when Sheridan asks them to leave her and Steven alone. Steven and Sheridan kiss before we see them in bed with Sheridan asleep in Stevens’s arms as he sings her the lullaby. Steven gains an amazing control over Sheridan’s life and begins to dominate what she wears, what she eats and whom she sees. He allows her to invite Elly and Bob around for a special dinner. The evening is pleasant despite Steven constantly picking at Sheridan’s every move. As the night draws to a close Steven decides to fetch some port from his house to finish the evening off. As he arrives home he finds Michael in his garage next to Virginia’s car. Michael’s suspicions have never left him and he has always believed that something sinister happened to Virginia, he confronts Steven who hits him over the head with a shovel. Steven then takes Michael’s body and buries him next to Virginia. Meanwhile Lisa, who is worried about Michaels’ disappearance, finds his wallet in Stevens drive. She tells George who then orders Steven to unlock his garage so they can look in it. As always, Steven is one step ahead of the rest and had already moved Virginia’s car. The garage is virtually empty and contains no trace of Virginia or Michael, but Lisa is not convinced and vows to find out the truth. Unbeknown to Steven, Michael was not actually dead when he buried him. Alive but injured, Michael manages to dig himself out of his grave and finds help from a bush walker. However the old man refuses to take Michael back up onto the road, and as Michael makes the journey himself he is run over and killed.

News comes into Westside that a body has been found and when Lisa identifies it as Michaels, Steven is shocked to find out his body was found on the road and not in a grave. Lisa and best friend Wheels go to investigate and meet up with the old man who helped Michael. He shows them to where he found Michael, as they explore they stumble across another grave – that of Virginias. The police are called and Steven is ultimately made a suspect for his love affair with Virginia. Steven is questioned by the police but they let him go and he returns home. He begins to cry in Sheridan’s arms and as she once again dreams about the murder of her school friend Becky Campbell she sees the man in her dream wore a ring engraved with the initials ‘S.R’. She looks down at Stevens’s hand and sees that he is wearing the identical ring. Steven confesses that he killed Michael, Virginia and Becky. The police arrive and arrest Steven who is sitting in wardrobe wearing his Mr Bad make-up. The police say that cannot hold him unless they get a full confession out of him, so they send Sheridan in the cell with a bug on her to get a taped confession. She succeeds but Steven finds the microphone and makes the police burn all the tapes. Steven demands a getaway car for himself and Sheridan, as the police lead him to the car, Sgt Harrison shoots Sheridan. As she lies still Steven does a runner and Sgt Harrison follows and shoots him. Sheridan is uninjured she was wearing body protection. Her shooting was a set-up to make Steven run and to give the police an excuse to shoot him. Steven is taken to hospital and then placed in a psychiatric hospital.

The nightmare seems over…….until a few weeks later when we see a hospital chaplain fall to his death and Mr Richardson stepping into his uniform. Steven then strides through the prison security before skipping out of the gates and back into the lives of the E Street residents. Steven’s first victim is Bill McDonald, a driver who he kills in order to steal his identity. Steven dyes his hair brown and wears a moustache. Steven moves into a house near the beach with James Newman, cousin of Max Simmons – Westside’s cop. Steven and James get to know two girls, Robyn and Denise. They are both weary of Steven but Denise flirts with him, when he gets too close for comfort she slaps him and is later found dead in her shower. Power games turn into mind games as Steven and Sheridan have visions of each other and conversations inside one another’s head. Sheridan is able to see everything that Steven is doing or about to do, but the cops don’t believe her, which leads more victims to fall into Steven’s trap. Next in line is Toni Windsor who has come to stay with Jamie for a while; Toni gets the shock of her life when Steven opens James’ door. He takes her into the bush and ties her up, explaining why he killed Becky, Virginia and Michael. Jamie finds Toni’s bag in his flat and the police realise that Steven has Toni. Roadblocks are out up to stop Steven escaping the area he is in and the police are convinced that this time they will have him. Steven lets Toni go and makes his way back to Westside on the back of a truck under a bundle of hay.

Back in Westside Steven loses his disguise and goes back to his old look. Despite the police surveillance at Sheridan’s house he hides in the attic and makes himself at home. Whilst Wheels and Sheridan are sleeping Steven drops a bottle, Wheels hears the noise and goes upstairs to investigate. Steven knocks him out and makes his way to Sheridan’s room; he pushes her on the bed and puts his hand over her mouth telling her if she screams he’ll kill her. Steven once again escapes into the night and is no-where to be found, until Lisa steps into the cab taking her out of Westside and finds that her river is Steven. He knocks her out and places her in the freezer of the shopping centre. Through their mind games Sheridan realises where Lisa is and she and Wheels save her as Steven once again escapes the cops and Wheels’ gun. Sheridan realises her nightmare will never end and agrees to meet Steven on her territory. Armed with Wheels gun she meets Steven at her offices and they share their final confrontation. Steven has Sheridan right where he wants her and once again reduces her to a feeble woman, the twist comes when the police arrive and finally arrest Steven. He is captured by George and Max and looks set to be put away for all the lives he has taken. But he warns Sheridan that her nightmare will never be over and that wherever he is he will always find her. His words are too strong for Sheridan and she calls his name, as he turns around she shoots him.

Steven isn’t dead although he is critical and has had half of his face blown away. His game with Sheridan is over but he falls prey on another victim. From his deathbed, Steven makes psychic contact with Nurse Amy and as her mental stability isn’t up to much, she gives him drugs to get him stronger. She believes they can help each other and wants Steven to get strong enough to kill her mother and the man that assaulted her when she was younger. Being ill and severely injured, Steven is reluctant but is hooked on the drugs that Amy is feeding him and so continues to do as she says. Amy helps him to escape from the hospital and he staggers off straight into the river, as his heavy body sinks to the bottom we witness one final flashback. We are taken back to Becky Campbell’s party and we learn that Steven never killed Becky – it was her father. Steven was next to Becky’s body when Sheridan found her and he was wearing the make-up that he wore for Mr Bad, as it was a fancy dress party. What was initially a case of mistaken identity turned into the reign of Westside’s biggest serial killer and one of E Street’s biggest and best storylines. The question is did Mr Bad really meet his end in that river????