Emmerdale‘s Marlon Dingle is targeted by online trolls as April Windsor’s disappearance storyline continues in the New Year.

Marlon is left devastated as his efforts to raise awareness of April’s situation lead to unwanted attention from strangers.

April went missing on Christmas Day after enduring a difficult few weeks. The month got off to a traumatic start when she was kidnapped by Ross Barton’s enemy Jade and found out the real story behind the death of her mum Donna in 2014.

The teen had also fallen out with her family due to some rebellious behaviour, as she’d started drinking heavily and had even tried to buy cannabis. Viewers last saw her getting into a car after she’d already been missing for hours.

Coming up in January, Marlon’s loved ones become concerned over the lack of leads in the April case. They convince Marlon to film an appeal video so that more people are looking out for April.

The decision pays off when Marlon’s video goes viral, but Mary Goskirk is forced to protect him from a string of hateful messages which are flooding in.

When Marlon finds out what’s going on, he regrets releasing the video without seeking official advice first. He considers deleting it to stop the trolling, but eventually decides that it’s important to keep the clip live for April’s sake.

Mary decides that Laurel Thomas is to blame for the tensions between Rhona and Marlon, so she steps in to confront Laurel at The Woolpack.

Marlon is left furious over Mary’s interference and tries to warn her off.

Further details about this storyline – and exactly why Laurel is in the firing line – will become clear on screen in the coming days.