A lot of people in Emmerdale are perfectly aware that Tom King (James Chase) is an evil, controlling abuser, with his wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper)’s family supporting her after he put her through months of suffering.
Others, though, are still oblivious to what Tom’s really like, and he’s doing his best to make sure it stays that way.
Amelia Spencer (Daisy Campbell) is at the head of Tom’s fan club as he has successfully manipulated her into believing he really cares about her. Also still supporting Tom are his uncle and aunt, Jimmy and Nicola King (Nick Miles and Nicola Wheeler).
Out of family loyalty, Jimmy can’t believe everything the Dingles are saying about Tom could possibly be true. +
One member of the King family who has seen the evil side that Tom tries to hide is his cousin, Carl (Charlie Munro Joyce). The young boy saw Tom’s true colours when he gave Tom’s tablet to Isaac (Bobby Dunsmuir) to play with.
Knowing that the tablet contained images of Belle taken with secret cameras made Tom desperate to get it back – and he was soon threatening Carl.
When Tom finally got the tablet back, Carl was horrified to see him smashing it up with a hammer, behaviour that made him realise that Tom is both scary and dangerous.
Realising that Carl was now nervous of him, Tom tried to get the boy back on side by offering him a bribe of a remote control toy car. Unfortunately for him, though Carl took the gift he is still very wary of him and Nicola has started to realise that her son is scared of Tom.
In upcoming episodes Nicola tries to get some answers out of Carl about why he seems nervous around Tom, but Carl clams up and refuses to say anything because he’s worried about what Tom might do to him.
When Nicola sees the toy car in the bin, her suspicions are heightened and again she quizzes Carl. This time he tells her a little bit about what’s bothering him, but stops short of telling her everything that’s happened between him and Tom.
Seriously worried now, Nicola confronts Tom head on, though he tries to talk his way out of her accusations. Jimmy is concerned by what he’s hearing, and Nicola is fuming. She threatens to tell the police about what’s been going on.
Is this the beginning of the end for Tom – or will he be able to manipulate the King family and worm his way out of trouble yet again?
