Moira Dingle has taken shocking revenge to protect son Matty Barton in Emmerdale.
Last week, newcomer Josh Cope took his grudge against Matty to new extremes by provoking a brawl inside The Hide, then shoving Samson into Matty while the latter was holding a knife.
Matty has since been arrested and could face serious prison time if he’s convicted of stabbing Samson.
In Wednesday’s (July 18) episode on ITV and streaming service ITVX, Amy and Moira had a tense prison visit with Matty where they could see how distressed he’d become.
The two were disturbed to hear that Matty hadn’t showered in several days and was missing his medication.
Back in the village, Samson was getting ready for work when his uncle Cain Dingle turned up to speak to him about the stabbing.
Cain already figured out that Josh instigated the entire incident, so he tried to convince Samson to clear Matty’s name.
Samson was conflicted about Matty being wrongfully imprisoned, but he wasn’t willing to cross Josh by telling the truth.
Moira was understandably outraged to find out that Samson was sticking to his version of events, so she followed him into the Woolpack.
Moira asked Mackenzie to “keep Charity busy” once she saw Samson heading for the toilets, and then she trapped the teenager inside.
Samson tried to flee, only for Moira to shove him against the wall and repeatedly jab his stab wound with her hand.
“No-one is going to save you, Samson,” Moira warned. “This pain right here is going to get a whole lot worse unless you start telling the truth.”
Charity and Mack could hear Samson’s cries for help from inside the pub, so they rushed in to break up the confrontation.
“You’re not helping Matty,” Mack tried to explain to Moira.
As Mackenzie pulled his sister away, she shouted out to Samson: “Matty is kind and gentle, and he is terrified. Please, Samson, just admit what you did. Matty can’t take much more!”
Samson enflamed the situation further by saying: “I hope he never gets out.”
Moira went for Samson again, only to be dragged away by Mackenzie. Back at home, Cain tried to warn Moira she could jeopardise Matty’s case by intimidating Samson.
“I wouldn’t need to go near him if you stepped up. You reckon you’re the head of this family, start acting like it,” she demanded.
“You’re not the man I married… The old Cain would have had my back. He was fearless.”
Moira then hurt Cain by telling him: “You are weak and you are of no use to me. I don’t even know what the point of you is anymore.” The storyline will continue with upsetting scenes as Cain visits Matty in prison to share some difficult advice.
