(Lisa Bowerman)
Sandra Mute was part of the original paramedic team when Casualty began in 1986. Young and down to earth, Mute was good at dealing with patients.
She soon began an affair with middle aged fellow paramedic Andrew Ponting. Ponting was already married and in one episode Mute said to him 'You are a very, very, very married man'. He replied 'I'm a bloody lemming'. And it wasn't long before Ponting's wife found out about the affair and threw him out. Ironically it was at the same time that Mute ran away to Wales with a 4 foot 11 inch tall jockey. But Ponting and Mute were soon back in love with each other again.
Everything seemed to be progressing well until that treacherous night near the start of series 2. Ponting and Mute picked up a drunk and a suicidal medical student and were on their way back to Holby Casualty. Then the drunk suddenly revealed he had a knife and stabbed Mute in the stomach. Mute took the knife out and Ponting stopped the ambulance immediately but the drunk opened the back doors and ran off into the night. Mute was losing a lot of blood and Ponting got the medical student to drive while he tried to stop the bleeding. 'I shouldn't have taken out the knife' Mute kept saying as she became weaker and began to lose conciousness. After a frantic dash to Holby the doctors worked hard to save Mute's life, but in vain. She died and Ponting was devastated.
Written by Christopher Watson