In July, Gus is joined in Walford by his troublesome brother Juley (Joseph Kpobie), taking over as local road sweeper, and is given Wellard the dog when his friend Robbie Jackson (Dean Gaffney) leaves London for India.

When friends Martin (James Alexandrou) and Vicki Fowler (Scarlett Johnson) break into the Minute Mart, Gus investigates, is caught by police and is left to take the blame.

In December 2003, Gus goes on a trip to Scotland in a minibus with Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), Kelly Taylor (Brooke Kinsella), Mickey Miller (Joe Swash), Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker), Sonia, Martin, Vicki, Tariq Larousi (Nabil Elouahabi) and Ronny (Ray Panthaki) and Kareena Ferreira (Pooja Shah).

Juley's involvement in crime, including the theft of some charity money, leads to his departure from Walford in April 2005, though he returns in September for a trip to France with Gus, Mickey, Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves) and Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi).

While in France, Gus meets Mickey's sister and father Dawn and Mike Swann (Kara Tointon and Mark Wingett).

Wellard is imprisoned pending a trial, but is freed on 12 January 2006, after Ian's partner Jane Collins (Laurie Brett) and children Peter (James Martin) and Lucy (Melissa Suffield) give character witness statements.

Gus is briefly reunited with Sonia when she breaks up with girlfriend Naomi Julien (Petra Letang), but she leaves him to reconcile with her husband Martin.

In April 2008, Gus meets and falls for a girl called Keisha (Suzie McGrath) but catches her in bed with Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky), his lodger who is two months behind on his rent.

[1] In 2007, George was suspended from the show for two months after he was cautioned by police over allegations that he caused actual bodily harm against his partner.

"[6] Discussing his character's exit storyline from the soap, George commented at the time: "Gus is wishing he'd never put himself in the position of sharing a flat with this madman (Sean Slater).