Claire Stanton

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Claire Stanton
Clara Salaman as DI Claire Stanton
First appearance	Millenium (23/09/1999)
Last appearance	All Fall Down (Part 2) (31/10/2000)
Cause/Reason	Resigned From Police Force
Information
Occupation	Police Officer
Title	Detective Inspector
Portrayed by	Clara Salaman

Detective Inspector Claire Stanton was a police officer in the long running ITV drama The Bill. She arrived at Sun Hill in September 1999 as a Detective Sergeant to investigate corruption at the station, which ultimately led to her exposing DS Don Beech as being a corrupt officer. Whilst at Sun Hill, Claire was involved in an on-off relationship with colleague DS John Boulton. When Beech killed Boulton in a fight and subsequently escaped Claire vowed she would track Beech down and bring him to Justice. Six months later, Claire had returned to CIB as a Detective Inspector when information was received from the New South Wales police that led her to Sydney where Beech was now living. Claire went to Sydney determined to get Beech extradited however the slippery Beech evaded her again. She finally caught up with him as he was leaving on a boat but rather than watch him escape again she grabbed a shotgun from a neaby armed officer and fired it at the boat which then exploded. With Beech apparently dead Claire resigned from the police force and took a job working in security.

While working for a security firm she is tasked with retrieveing some documents for an Arab client that were stolen during a £6 million robbery of a safe depsoit centre in Mayfar. After getting information about the heist from a former colleague in the force, Claire applies pressure to the manager who the police are convinced is involved. He agrees to get the documents back but Claire is shocked when she see Beech's girlfriend Frankie delivering the documents. Convinced that her nemesis faked his death back in Sydney, Claire began to dig further. Later she received an anonymous text message telling her Beech would be meeting a contact in a local cemetery. When Claire arrived at the cemetery Beech saw her first and bundled her in to the boot of his car and took her to an abandoned MOD bunker. Beech is desperate to find out how Claire found him and tortued her but she revealed nothing. Instead she began to play mind games with him trying to split him from Frankie. When Beech leaves Frankie tried to kill Claire by taking her outside and running her over, this failed and Claire escaped and flagged down a passing car. Unfortuantely the driver is Beech and he took her back inside. The police are closing in though, two members of Beech's gang are arrested and evidence found that led them to the bunker where Claire and Beech are now trapped after the lock jams. Beech escaped again up a ventialtion shaft and watched from nearby as Claire was taken away in an ambulance.

Determined to find Beech, Claire discharged herself from the hospital. Claire followed Beech's contact who unknowingly led her right to him. She told Beech that he is being double crossed but is knocked out when his accomplice returns. She came round just in time to follow them and confronted them on the top of a London office building. In the ensuing struggle Beech is stabbed with a needle containing morphine and Claire managed to get Beech's gun. Beech taunted her to kill him but she wouldn't give him the easy way out as she saw it and called the police. Beech was sentenced to life and as he was led away again taunted Claire telling she has nothing left in her life now either.