EastEnders spoilers follow for Thursday’s (January 29) episode which is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Joel Marshall (Max Murray) made an unexpected decision during his trial proceedings after dad Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) stood up for Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig) and urged him to take responsibility for his actions.

The villainous teen, as viewers know, is facing punishment over his brutally attack on stepmum Vicki last year.

in powerful scenes earlier this week, Vicki took to the stand to recount the horrific ordeal as she recalled how, in the wake of the attack, Joel left her unconscious before taking out his phone to film what he’d done.

Proceedings took an unexpected turn, however, when Joel’s defence barrister cross-examined Vicki, questioning her over how she and Ross had used cash to cover up the twisted teen’s vile actions.

Vicki was left reeling that Joel had disclosed such information in an effort to get away with what he did as she burst into tears and left the courtroom, refusing to return.

Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James), meanwhile, was all set to take to the stand but before doing so, she offered Vicki some support, which prompted her to return to the court.

Vicki bravely finished what she had intended to say on the previous day, making it clear that she won’t stand for the misogynistic behaviour she’d been subjected to previously by both Joel and his barrister.

Avani subsequently told the court about how Joel had filmed them having sex without her consent and later distributed it online, which she only found out about recently. As she talked about the traumatic ordeal, Joel smirked, which prompted her to publicly call him out over such a thing.

As the trial neared its end, Joel was called to the stand. In typical Joel fashion, he attempted to blame someone else for his actions. This time, it was Ross and Vicki. He claimed he’d been let down by his dad, who was more interested in pursuing a relationship with Vicki than parenting him.

Appalled by his son’s tactics to secure his freedom, Ross made his feelings known before the court, accepting some accountability as the teen’s dad but ultimately he urged him to take responsibility for his own actions – and to leave Vicki out of this.

In a very unexpected turn of events, Joel changed his plea to guilty. Vicki and Avani were left in shock, as was Ross, who subsequently hugged him during their final scenes together.