Emmerdale villain’s ‘brutal’ end confirmed as Graham returns to murder

Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) has been murdered in Emmerdale, and it’s very possible his killer has been confirmed in tonight’s episode.

Drug dealer Ray met his end on January 2, after spending the best part of a year forcing the likes of Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) and April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) to deal drugs.

Alongside this, Ray also forced other vulnerable adults to work as slaves on Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) farm, one of which included Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards).

As we got to know Ray, we learnt about his relationship with mum Celia, and how she adopted him after seeing him on the streets when he was a child.

Ray was raised in Celia’s world and made to do these horrific jobs for her. It means that while Ray is a perpetrator, he’s also a victim of Celia’s abuse and exploitation.

It was Ray’s relationship with Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) that ultimately helped him see exactly what Celia had been doing to him. All he wanted was to live the same quiet life Laurel lives with her children in the village, but he knew he’d never get this while Celia was still breathing.

On New Year’s Day, Ray stabbed Celia in the back. The next day, a resident killed him, and hid his body in the back of a depot truck.

Tonight’s instalment of Emmerdale focused solely on Ray’s relationship with Laurel. She is one of the many suspects in the murder investigation, and scenes tonight allowed us to learn how Laurel reacted to the news that she had fallen in love with a monster.

After Ray banged on Laurel’s front door, he entered and found her on the phone, under the impression she was close to calling the police.

Ray eventually convinced Laurel to sit down and hear what he had to say.

Laurel was absolutely terrified the entire time, and Ray could sense this. Amid all of the horrendous things Ray has done, his connection with Laurel was real and something that made him happy.

He tried to tell Laurel that he wasn’t going to hurt her, but came to accept that now she was looking at him through a different lens, she’d always have the fear that he’d put her or her children in danger.

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Ray opened up to Laurel about his childhood during this episode, revealing that he became homeless at the age of 8 as a result of his granddad not coping well with him.

His beloved grandfather put a note in his pocket that asked whoever found him to look after him, because ‘Raymond [is] a good boy really’.

There was a small part of Laurel who could see that Ray was a victim of grooming, but that didn’t overshadow what he had done to Dylan and April, and many others. Laurel told Ray that he doesn’t deserve love, and that his comeuppance will be ‘brutal’ when it eventually arrives.

This was perhaps the first clue that Laurel may end up as Ray’s killer. However, as the episode continued, two more suspects entered the mix.

Outside, Arthur Thomas (Alfie Clarke) confronted Ray after finding out from Laurel that he’s a drug dealer. He attempted to threaten Ray, who even gave him a free pass to smack him over the face with a rock.

The fact that Arthur couldn’t hold his own very well in this moment certainly suggests he isn’t the murderer but who knows! We could be left surprised.

Up the road, a man sat in his car watching this situation between Arthur and Ray unfold – and he is absolutely more capable of murdering than an angry teenager.

With his black gloves on and hood up, Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough) was observing Ray from a distance. It means he returned to Emmerdale prior to Corriedale, but is this because he knew Ray?

Or has someone – who knows Graham is still alive of course – asked him to kill the man?