This article contains spoilers for last night’s episode of Emmerdale which airs at 7:30pm on ITV, but can be watched now on ITVX.
Emmerdale viewers have waited a long time to see Belle Dingle’s (Eden Taylor-Draper) abusive husband Tom King (James Chase) get his comeuppance.
It’s been a horrific year for Belle, and despite the warning signs during their engagement, she still went ahead with their wedding suffered the physical and emotional abuse Tom put her through.
His cruel actions spiralled from verbal remarks to forcing her to have sex with him, leaving Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) for dead and smashing her mother’s urn.
Tom went on to stage a fake death for her beloved pooch Piper (who will make a welcome return very soon!) and secretly record her every move using hidden cameras in Dale Head.
Recently, viewers saw him fake a suicide attempt in prison. As a trained vet, he knew just how much damage he could inflict on himself to make it look realistic.
Hoping that it would stop Belle from testifying against him, it did prove partly successful – she delayed arriving at court but surprised us all when she declared that it was her time to tell her side of the story to the jury.
In an hour-long special tonight that highlighted the real-life voices of domestic abuse victims and survivors, we found out their decision.
Was Tom King found guilty during his trial in Emmerdale?
Belle’s ordeal finally came to an end when Tom was sentenced to three years in prison in tonight’s episode.
As they both gave statements to the court, we saw interweaving scenes of the jury discussing what they had heard and planning their verdict.
Belle breathed a sigh of relief when they decided he was indeed guilty, and was sentenced.
She can now began to rebuild her life, on what is bound to be an incredibly powerful and moving journey.
Who played the jury during Tom King’s trial in Emmerdale?
Last month, we exclusively revealed that three soap titans would be playing the jury members during Tom’s trial.
Loose Women panellist Denise Welch added another role to her soap bucket list, having previously appeared in Coronation Street, EastEnders, Hollyoaks, Waterloo Road, The Bill, Holby City, Doctors and Casualty.
Denise’s character Heidi was certain from the outset that Belle was being truthful, whilst her fellow members weren’t so sure.
Charles Dale, who best known for his role as Big Mac in Casualty and Janice Battersby’s (Vicky Entwistle) boyfriend Dennis Stringer in Corrie played Karl.
Bad Girls actor Jack Ellis, who played villainous prison officer Jim Fenner for much of its run and bookmaker Harry Mason on the cobbles between 2007 and 2008 played Kenneth.
Kenneth eventually spoke up when he realised similar patterns of behaviour in Tom to a person from his past.
He explained that a friend of his daughter had grown up to become an abusive murderer and had killed the mother of his children.
The whole group were shocked to hear the story and its concerning parallel to Belle and Tom’s story – and then knew what they had to do.
