After Belle fled their Welsh ‘holiday’ cottage, the story picked up with a

suspicious Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins)

arriving to find the place in a worrying state.

Tom emerged, explaining that Belle had left him, lying that

the blood they had spotted was his and denying Charity’s accusations that he had hurt Belle.

He then revealed that Belle had secretly terminated her pregnancy, playing up to his twisted narrative that his wife wasn’t well by claiming that she had hidden all her medication.

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As Tom convinced Cain and Charity that his actions to control Belle were simply a way of keeping her safe in her fragile mental state, Belle arrived at sister-in-law Lydia Dingle’s (Karen Blick) door, subdued as she relayed that she had to get away from Tom.

When Lydia served her some toast, Belle couldn’t face eating it, fresh from memories of Tom forcing her to eat this at the cottage.

Lydia called Charity to tell her where Belle was, with Tom continuing his fake role as attentive husband before they all headed back to the village.

Lydia attempted to get to the bottom of what Belle was going through, but she couldn’t bring herself to confide her abuse.

But when Cain and Charity arrived, it was clear that they believed Tom’s story. Belle tried to explain what Tom was really like, but Cain and Charity were too fixated on her mental health.

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Despite the fact that Charity had been rightly concerned about Tom’s behaviour, she suddenly, perhaps rather unrealistically, changed her tune.

Belle fled back to her marital home to pack some things, where she found her phone and removed Tom’s tracker app.

Before she could leave, she came face-to-face with Tom once more, and Belle declared that she was scared of him. Tom locked the door, and Belle felt forced to play nice as he blamed her for all their problems and lied that the Dingles had turned against her.

When Tom kissed her against her will, though, the thought of sex with him, and the mention of making another baby, led Belle to tell him she wanted out of their marriage.

Belle threatened to set Cain on Tom if he stopped her from leaving, and he unlocked the door, telling Belle that he knew she would “come crawling back”.

Belle insisted she wouldn’t, and returned to Lydia as she told her relatives that she and Tom were over.

Outside, Belle comforted herself by speaking to her late mum Lisa (Jane Cox) and took off her wedding ring. But with Tom watching nearby, will Belle ever be free of him?

Emmerdale has been working with Refuge and New Beginnings Peer Support for the Tom and Belle storyline. You can access free and confidential support from Refuge’s 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 and digital support via live chat Monday-Friday 3-10pm via nationaldahelpline.org.uk.

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