Emmerdale spoilers: ‘She will 𝕕ie’: Tom shatters Belle’s breakthrough in shocking plot to ‘𝕜ill’ her loved one

Tom King (James Chase) demonstrated the depths he’s prepared to go to in his mission to control his wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) in Emmerdale – by deliberately making their dog Piper appear to be at death’s door by drugging her in a plot twist that’s already had viewers branding it ‘twisted, sick and unnecessary.’

Belle is currently in a mental health unit as her mental health deteriorated recently, completely as a result of Tom’s actions. Her husband’s coercive control of her has gone from emotional manipulation to outright violence, and he’s tried to isolate her from family and friends and anyone who cares about her.

After he punched her recently she begged him to get help and he made an appointment with GP Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson). He told Liam that it was Belle who had a problem with erratic and violent behaviour, which seemed to be borne out later when he provoked her in the street and she snapped and pushed him.

Following that, Tom messed with the medication that Belle takes for her mental health. Feeling that she wasn’t coping with her mental health, Belle asked to be admitted to the unit.

Utterly sickening

In Tuesday (May 28)’s episode we saw Belle having a session with her therapist Ava (Marcia Lecky). They were discussing Belle’s reaction to her recent pregnancy scare and how she knew she wasn’t ready to have a baby but how Tom’s reaction made her feel like she ‘kept letting him down.’

As Ava pointed out that making decisions about her own body wasn’t letting anyone down, there was a feeling that she was beginning to get an idea of what could be going on in Belle and Tom’s marriage.

Belle confided that relationships weren’t her strong point and she’d made terrible decisions in the past and was ‘blind’ to who those people really were.

Ava asked whether she had her eyes open regarding her relationship to Tom and Belle looked like she was on the verge of realising something. Then the door opened and Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick) arrived.

Ava promised that they would ‘Get to the bottom of what’s been going on,’ and left Lydia to talk to Belle. Lydia had bad news – Piper was seriously ill and they didn’t know whether she would make it.

This was all entirely Tom’s doing. He injected Piper with a drug, telling the dog, ‘Mummy shouldn’t have abandoned us.’ He said he would up the dose until Belle returned, then he made a fake-tearful call to Lydia.

He was previously annoyed that Belle had asked for Lydia to visit her and not him, so he knew that Lydia was the best way to get a message to Belle. He told Lydia that Piper was dying and she offered to break the news to Belle on her visit.

So just as Belle and her therapist were getting close to working out that Tom is the root cause of all of her current problems, she’ll probably be coming straight back to Emmerdale to check on her beloved dog.

And once again, Tom King will have Belle back under his control.