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 MYRA DESMOND
Played by Anne Phelan
Prison Reform Group member Myra Desmond is introduced to us much earlier than many viewers may be able to remember. She first visits Wentworth in episode 154 to help Chrissie Latham with her child custody battle. She later pops up again in episodes 223-224 and 273-274. She later murders her husband an is sent to Wentworth as a prisoner, and soon takes over as top dog - an obvious replacement for Bea Smith who has left.
Her role as top dog is more or less the continuation of where Bea has left off. Myra isn't too keen on drugs and doesn't like to see her fellow inmates be pushed around by the Department or indeed the other prisoners. She has a lot more involvement in the wipe out of drugs than Bea did. Myra is forced to escape to see that her own daughter doesn't end up as an addict - she manages to slip out of the front gates un-noticed during a prison fete. This doesn't prove too popular with the other women who feel that she has neglected them, so she steps down as top dog in episode 502 to Reb Kean. Reb's reign doesn't last for very long as she is transferred out in episode 506 for pushing drugs.
Myra has the usual run-ins with the other women - and officers. Another enemy of Joan Ferguson's, she again tries to continue in getting The Freak sacked from Wentworth but it never seems to work. She leads quite a lonely life inside Wentworth until she starts an affair with a male inmate who has been transferred from another prison. Myra and Geoff MaCrae have a master key made which enables them to sneak off wherever they want to spend time alone with eachother. Geoff is transferred back to the male prison and Myra is left alone again.
During her 40th birthday party (episode 521), which the women had pretended to forget, an attempt is made on her life by nasty Lou Kelly who has wired up the handle of Myra's cell to give her an electric shock. Unfortunately it doesn't go according to plan and Sam Greenway is murdered by mistake.
Myra meets her maker during the memorable terrorist siege of Wentworth during episode 552. Ruth Ballinger's husband has arranged for terrorists to break into the prison and take Ruth out but the women get in the way of a very poorly planned escape. Myra is shot dead in the Recroom by the terrorists in front of the terrified women who she has protected during her time as top dog.
© 2004 On The Inside. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Thanks to "Who's Who in Wentworth" for episode numbers & precise details.
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