DC Dave Brett was the police officer who investigated the crimes of Richard Hillman. In late 2002, Richard, up to his eyes in debt and his business interests failing, concocted a plan to convince everyone that mother-in-law Audrey Roberts was entering senility and then kill her in a fire in her house which would be put down to an accidental death and her estate would be paid to daughter Gail. Audrey was saved from the fire by Steve McDonald and Archie Shuttleworth and while recovering at Gail's house she overheard Richard talking to her daughter about getting Power of Attorney over her finances. This alerted Audrey to the real reasons behind her supposed memory losses as well as the fire and she and Archie took their suspicions to the police.