Looking back on Ben Unwin’s time as Jesse McGregor on Home and Away

Jesse McGregor arrived in Summer Bay with a bang in 1996. He was ‘working’ as a small time thief when he rescued Selina Roberts (Tempany Deckert), Shannon (Isla Fisher) and Curtis Reed (Shane Ammann) from a group of criminals.

Jesse began seeing Selina, though she was suspicious of his secrect nature. He eventually revealed he had a daughter, Rachel, from a previous relationship. When Rachel’s mother Kylie was arrested the first time, he became her sole guardian for a while.

Jesse would later suffer his first heartbreak when Selina dumped him for her ex Steven Matheson (Adam Willits).

Jesse had a few short flings after his split from Selina, including one with Gypsy (Kimberley Cooper) that became the talk of the town due to their age difference.

After his flings, Jesse briefly reunited with Kylie. Their engagement was cut short as she was arrested and imprisoned, before dying of a drug overdose, leaving him to raise Rachel alone.

Jesse was accused of burning Alf’s bait shop to the ground, though he denied having done so. After opening his own garage, he ended up involved with criminals.

Eventually Jesse landed himself in prison for a two year sentence, alongside Vinnie Patterson (Ryan Kwanten). He promised Vinnie he would look after his wife, Leah (Ada Nicodemou).

Jesse returned to Summer Bay in 2002, and resumed his close relationships with old friends like Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie).

Per Vinnie’s request, Jesse became close friends with Leah…

When Vinnie supposedly died in a prison fire, the pair became even closer and developed romantic feelings for each other.

Leah initially rejected Jesse due to her strong religious beliefs, before eventually falling madly in love.

Leah’s family were skeptical of Jesse, especially when it came to her son VJ.

Unfortunately, their concerns were (somewhat) proven to be valid when Jesse temporarily lost VJ at the beach and lied about it. Tense times!

Jesse and Leah’s relationship sadly came to an end amid Sally and Flynn’s surrogacy drama. After Leah agreed to be their surrogate, she shared a brief kiss with Flynn that resulted in Jesse calling it quits.

Also making things difficult in Jesse’s life during that time: being falsley accused of murder! Jesse was considered a suspect after his former girlfriend Angie Russell (Laurie Foell) was found dead. The murderer was revealed to be her son Dylan (Brett Hicks-Maitland).

Jesse moved on from Leah with Josie Russell (Laurie Foell).

Sadly, their engagement ended when Josie’s affair with Brett Macklin (Gerry Sont) was revealed when Josie’s niece Tasha (Isabel Lucas) ran out on the wedding, forcing Josie to confess. This began Jesse’s downward spiral.

Jesse quickly moved on with Summer Bay necomer Martha MacKenzie (Jodi Gordon). His heavy drinking and feud with Brett over Josie leads Martha to break off the relationship.

Jesse also had some lighter moments, including dressing up for a murder mystery party with Martha.

But in true Summer Bay style, the party wasn’t without drama for long and a bomb scare left attendees including Hayley (Bec Hewitt) terrified.

When Jesse’s former fling Chloe returned to Summer Bay, the pair are involved in a hit and run car collision.

Sadly, the car accident proved fatal for Chloe (Kristy) and a devastated Jesse handed himself in to the police, admitting he was responsible for her death.