In hard-to-watch scenes, Emmerdale viewers have seen Tom King (James Chase)’s behaviour towards his wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) getting progressively more controlling and abusive.

There were already red flags about Tom’s behaviour before he and Belle got married and he’d even physically hurt her after pushing her in a heated moment.

Since the wedding, however, things have got much worse as he’s taken control over huge areas of her life, tracking her movements, isolating her from friends and belittling and humiliating her.

This has occasionally turned violent, such as the horrific moment following a dinner party when he held Belle’s hand under a scalding hot tap and left her with nasty burns.

Recently another violent incident led to Belle declaring that the marriage was over and that Tom needed help. He responded by begging for a second chance and promised he would get help for his anger issues.

Upcoming episodes see Tom immediately twist this, however, when he has an appointment with Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson). He tells the GP that Belle is the one with the problem – she’s manipulative, controlling and has anger issues.

Meanwhile Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) and Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick) are worried because Belle hasn’t been replying to their calls or texts and they agree that she hasn’t been herself recently.

At a family dinner Tom puts on his best show of being the perfect husband, and afterwards Belle is pleased when he tells her the appointment with Liam went well.

On the anniversary of Lisa Dingle (Jane Cox)’s death the family plan a memorial picnic. Of course Belle wants to go along and be with her family as they remember her beloved late mum, but Tom engineers it so she has to wait in at home for a parcel for him.

At work, Tom is angered by a performance review when Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) and Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) are critical of his work, and his fury boils over when he finds out that Belle didn’t wait in for the parcel.

He blames her for ruining the day and makes some horrible comments about Lisa – and in front of the villagers Belle finally sees red and pushes Tom over.