Emmerdale’s evil people trafficking and drug pushing ring is no more, as the people running it are both dead.
Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths) met a Shakespearean end when she was stabbed in the back by Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), the man she’d taken as an innocent boy and groomed and brutalised into acting as her right-hand man and henchman.
Ray’s relationship with Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) made him realise that another life was possible and opened his eyes to exactly how evil Celia was – and he knew he would never be free of her while she was still alive, so he killed her.
He never got a chance to experience a life free of Celia’s influence, though. It would have been incredibly difficult to turn a life of such criminality around, but before Ray could even try he was dead himself – as we saw his body being dragged across the ground by an unseen killer.
Which brings us to the big question – whodunnit? And there are plenty of suspects to choose from. Let’s have a look at the main ones.
Laurel Thomas
Surely the nicest person in Emmerdale couldn’t have turned into a ruthless killer? She does have the motive, however. After she discovered from Dylan (Fred Kettle) exactly what her new boyfriend was capable of and how he’d treated April (Amelia Flanagan), Laurel was horrified that she’d let such a man into her home.
When Ray came calling, knowing he was free to start a new life with Laurel now that Celia was gone, Laurel wanted nothing to do with him and warned him not to come near her or her children again.
Later we saw her trembling and looking shocked. She was wiping some scissors and pushed them away in the cutlery drawer. Could this have been Laurel stashing the murder weapon?
Rhona Goskirk
Rhona (Zoe Henry) has been behaving suspiciously, too, making a phone call to a mysterious person who she asked, ‘Have you done it?’ Rhona and Marlon (Mark Charnock) have been under unbelievable pressure since they discovered their daughter was trapped into dealing drugs and Celia and Ray had even tried to force her into prostitution. Rhona’s phone call suggests that she probably didn’t kill Ray herself, but might well have got someone else to do it. But who?
Cain Dingle
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Rhona previously proposed to Marlon that Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) could be the one to help them get out of the situation with Ray and Celia.
The Dingles’ resident hard-man is usually the go-to choice if someone needs to be taught a serious lesson, and if he knew the full truth of what Marlon’s family was being subjected to there’s no doubt that Cain would do whatever it took to keep them safe. Even murder. Plus Celia and Ray had already embroiled Moira (Natalie J Robb) in their dodgy dealings, so it’s absolutely personal for Cain.
Ross Barton and April Windsor
Go-to hard-man number 2 is Ross Barton (Mike Parr), and he’s definitely in the frame for Ray’s killing, possibly along with April. We saw them in Ross’s car, with Ross asking April if she was OK, to which she replied, ‘I will be.’ Ross then said it was probably best they ‘didn’t mention this to anyone.’ He reiterated that he had April’s back, always. Has he proved this by murdering the man who terrorised her?
Marlon Dingle
Lovely Marlon seems to be too gentle to do such a thing as killing someone, but we’ve learned that he will do anything to protect April. It’s true that he’s no physical match for Ray in a fight, but under the right circumstances Marlon definitely had the motivation to put an end to the torment that his family have been experiencing. And we saw him behaving suspiciously and sending a mysterious text…
Jai Sharma
In the eyes of the police, chief suspect in Ray’s murder soon becomes Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson). When they discover that drugs have been trafficked through Caleb (William Ash)’s depot, former drug addict Jai is soon implicated. He has the additional motive, as far as the police are concerned, that he’s Laurel’s ex and could have been jealous about her relationship with Ray. We know that Jai is more interested in Kerry (Laura Norton) these days, but he’d certainly have wanted to see Ray kept well away from Laurel and her children if he found out what he was really like.
Moira Dingle
In upcoming episodes Moira is under suspicion for being the ringleader of the human trafficking operation because of her partnership with Celia in the turkey farming business, which used people working in slavery conditions as labour. Moira was already fuming with Celia after she discovered that she’d been tricked by her, and of course Moira is more than capable of violent behaviour when necessary.
Bear Wolf
This is an outside bet, because Bear (Joshua Richards) is currently missing and an upcoming episode reveals a freshly-dug grave next to the grave of his friend Anya. So sadly it looks like Bear might have been killed, possibly by Ray or another of Celia’s thugs, when it became too dangerous to keep him around.
But what if he somehow managed to turn the tables? Ray has kept him drugged and dependent for months, but a visit from April made him realise he has family who love him living nearby. Could Bear have had one last attempt to break free?
Dylan Penders
Dylan has more cause than most to despise Ray. As well as being groomed by Ray into dealing drugs, Dylan feels incredibly guilty for getting April and her family involved in Ray and Celia’s operation.
He’s experienced the worst that Ray can do when Ray deliberately ran him over to teach April’s family a lesson. He wasn’t meant to survive that incident and in the aftermath Rhona and Marlon tried to persuade him to go to the police, but his fear of what Ray was capable of stopped him.
Despite his difficult background, Dylan is a very moral person and he was the one to finally warn Laurel about Ray’s true nature.
This act could well have put a massive target on his back from Ray, so could Dylan have killed him in self defence, or during a fight? Or had Dylan finally had enough of being afraid?
