Desperate Laurel leaves sex abuser Anthony to die in bloody attack to save Angel in Emmerdale
Anthony Fox (Nicholas Day) is unravelling rapidly. Now that Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) has let the cat out of the back about his historic child abuse by confiding in Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter), he is coming unstuck, fast.
Not that he knows it just yet.
Just after Christmas, Ruby finally cracked and confessed to Chas that her reason for her strange behaviour has been due to being triggered by Anthony’s presence – after he abused her as a teenager. Steph (Georgia Jay) may well have been the result of the abuse.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, Chas is struggling to keep it to herself. Anthony, meanwhile, is none the wiser and is chuffed to have scored himself a gig tutoring Angel one on one.
Chas overhears Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) gushing how pleased she is that her daughter is getting some help with her education from the kindly old gentleman, and in fact is home alone with him right now. Chas snaps.
In a huge move, she tells Nicola that Angelica is not safe anywhere near Anthony.
Nicola immediately storms home to rescue her daughter, giving Anthony both barrels of her disgust.
Anthony is initially perturbed by her show of aggression, but his panic swiftly turns to anger. His true self comes to the fore as he menacingly looms over Nicola, ready to silence her.
But Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) comes smashing in to save the day – swooshing a candlestick right into Anthony’s temple.
His ego, and likely his skull, are both shattered as he falls to the ground, unconscious. The two women realise what they have done and scarper, but Laurel is utterly consumed by guilt. Has she killed him?
She becomes an absolute wreck and is left seeking religious guidance for her actions. Nicola is also consumed with fear and makes a risky move in popping to A&E to see if Anthony was admitted. But all she does is create suspicion.
When Anthony later turns up dead, will the finger of doubt be pointed at Laurel and Nicola?
