James Willmott-Brown - Storylines - 1992

1992

When James is released in January 1992, he returns to the square and tries to buy the flats that Grant (Ross Kemp) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) are selling. He plans to move back to Walford and set up another business and sends Kathy a tape asking her to meet him at his hotel in Hampstead. He promises that if she objects, he will disappear and never return. His return sends shockwaves around the square and Pete organises a mob to track him down as Kathy plans to meet him. Kathy gets there first and after listening to Willmott-Brown's tale of his hard time in prison and how much he has changed, she asks him to leave the Square for good and never return. Despite his promise, however, he refuses to leave Walford. Kathy then leaves feeling repulsed and cheated, but unknown to her, Pete has also come to enact his revenge. Pete and his mob force him into their car and drive him to Pete's high-rise flat building, where Pete threatens to push him off unless he signs a paper stating that he will leave Walford and never return. Immediately after, Willmott-Brown phones his solicitor and takes out an injunction on Pete, but proceeds to move to the Square. He continues sending Kathy tapes, confessing his undying love for her.

Eventually Kathy and Pete confront James at his house and he and Pete nearly come to blows. An emotional Kathy finally relays her hurt and anger over the rape and her fury that James has never apologised for the act. James protests that they had something truly special, but after a heated conversation, Kathy makes him realise how deluded he is by showing him the destruction he'd caused her and her family. In a bid for attention, James threatens to commit suicide but Kathy stops him, refusing to allow him off the hook so easily. James finally apologises for raping her and begs for her forgiveness. Kathy is pleased he is sorry, but refuses to forgive him, feeling her forgiveness would give him permission to stop being sorry and she tells him she is never going to do anything he asks, ever again, not even that. The confrontation and the apology finally give Kathy the closure she needs. Defeated, James leaves Walford and has not been seen since. In 1994, Kathy begins having recurring nightmares about Wilmott-Brown so her boyfriend, Phil Mitchell, goes in search of him. He tracks down James's wife, and discovers that he is back in prison after raping another woman. Nothing more has been heard about him since.