Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) is about to find herself involved in a dark storyline in Emmerdale.
In recent weeks, Laurel has spent time getting to know new face Anthony Fox (Nicholas Day). He is the father of Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly), but no one knows he was responsible for sexually abusing her when she was a child.
As a result, most of the village residents have fallen for Anthony’s charming façade. Where Laurel is concerned, she has happily let Anthony spend time with her son Arthur (Alfie Clarke) for tutoring sessions.
Laurel’s pal Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) then jumped on the bandwagon and asked Anthony if he could help Angelica (Rebecca Bakes) with her school work. Of course, neither of them have any idea of Anthony’s past – but that’s all set to change in upcoming episodes.
After Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) tells Nicola that Anthony shouldn’t be around children, she races home to stop his tutoring going ahead with Angel. Following behind her is Laurel, who then walks in on a very angry Anthony confronting her mate.
Laurel takes action by hitting Anthony with a candlestick. He’s not dead quite yet, though Laurel believes he is.
Describing Laurel’s reaction as she learns about Anthony’s past, star Charlotte Bellamy said:
‘Laurel thinks Anthony is a lovely gentleman who is helping her son with maths tuition, she has no suspicious feelings at all about Anthony. She walks in on Anthony attacking Nicola so she hits him over the head. Nicola then tells Laurel he is a sexual predator.
‘Laurel can’t believe this revelation and is in shock about this as he seemed genuinely a nice honest man.’
A couple of days after this, Anthony is found dead after being shot in the depot, therefore making Laurel one of the potential suspects.
However, according to Charlotte, she will be very surprised if ‘honest’ Laurel turns out to be the person responsible.
‘I would not believe it!’, she said.
‘Laurel is a good honest person but fiercely loyal. I don’t think she EVER is capable of real harm.’
