Anthony Fox (Nicholas Day) has been murdered in Emmerdale, and Aaron Dingle thinks he’s responsible.
Prior to Anthony’s death, the secret he sexually abused daughter Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) when she was younger started to spill into the village. This left the likes of Caleb Miligan (William Ash), Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) and Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) all with reason to hurt Anthony, but then attention turned to Aaron.
The character was reminded of his past with Gordon as he learnt of Ruby’s ordeal. The man was responsible for sexually abusing Aaron when he was a child, but ended his life while in prison in 2016.
‘I think it’s pure disgust and dread as to how he’ll deal with this and bringing back so many evil and dark memories for Aaron that he’d suppressed for so many years’, actor Danny Miller previously said.
‘Having experienced the same abuse and disgusting acts and never really got the justice he deserved or that Gordon deserved – the motive [to kill Anthony] is there in plain sight.’
In upcoming episodes, Aaron and John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) continue to work together in the aftermath of the murder. After discovering the man’s evil side, Aaron confronted Anthony and attacked him in a barn – but now believes he killed him.
While John buys Ruby a coffee, Aaron breaks into Mill Cottage and gathers Anthony’s belongings, along with a spare car key. As they meet up, Aaron and John realise Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) is closing up the garage for a few days and realise it’ll benefit their plan.
With that, Aaron gets to work stripping down the car while John watches on. Later, John tells his boyfriend that there’s no evidence of Anthony’s murder left at the depot.
But when John visits the depot for a health and safety initiative, he’s horrified to spot Anthony’s missing tooth on the floor. He does his best to retrieve the tooth, but he’s stopped by a very suspicious Caleb.
Towards the end of the week, Ruby answers the door to Aaron. Opening up about his self-harm and feelings about Gordon, tormented Aaron cannot take on board Ruby’s attempts to bolster.
The guilt increasing, Aaron admits he killed Anthony – and Ruby is stunned.
