Emmerdale‘s Belle Dingle has been manipulated by the show’s newest villain John Sugden.

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that John, who arrived in the village in August, had accidentally killed Nate Robinson and covered up the murder by dumping Nate’s body in the lake.

Everyone in the village, including Nate’s wife Tracy, believed that Nate had moved to Scotland to start a new job.

Earlier this week, Belle began to get closer to the truth and decided to travel to Scotland to track Nate down.

In tonight’s episode, Belle told John about her trip to Scotland, telling him that Nate never turned up to his new job, saying: “That’s why I’m worried something has happened to him.”

Belle told John she wanted to let Tracy know the truth, but John got to Tracy first, telling her that Belle thinks something happened to Nate.

Later, John tried to talk Belle out of reporting Nate to the police as a missing person. After Belle told him she was going to phone the police, John grabbed the phone and said: “I can’t let you do that.”

John told Belle to talk to Tracy first, telling her that it’s Tracy and Frankie’s lives that will be “disrupted by any investigation”.

Accusing Belle of “dredging everything back up,” Tracy said: “Leave Nate wherever he is and let me and Frankie try to move on without him.”

John’s plan worked and Belle agreed not to go to the police, calling it “a stupid idea”.

However, it could all be irrelevant anyway as the episode ended with Moira Dingle revealing that the lake was going to be dredged up following the contaminated water scandal – all within earshot of a panicked John.

Previously speaking about his character John, Emmerdale star Oliver Farnworth said: “He’s not just a villain or a bad person on paper – there’s way, way more to it than that. Even day by day, week by week, I’m literally still discovering things about him. So there’s plenty more to come and it’s a gift of a part.”