Emmerdale spoilers: Vulgar Tom gets worse as he seizes control of a vital part of Belle’s life
Tom King’s (James Chase) catalogue of abuse towards Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor Draper) is gathering pace as he comes up with a new sneaky plan to further isolate her from the outside world in Emmerdale.
Tom is bringing out the big guns, having so far failed to stop her forging a career or from keeping her away from Vinny.
Even his secret CCTV couldn’t keep her at bay. And learning recently that Belle had been lying to him about taking the pill and therefore crushing his plans of trapping her with pregnancy, something snapped inside him.
Terrifyingly, given everything that’s happened, he’s just getting started in the terrorising of his wife.
Having begun driving a wedge between her and her family, finding cunning ways to keep them apart, Tom’s ready for the next stage of abuse – he seizes control of her finances.
He opens a joint account to strip Belle of her independence, leaving her with no say over her own money. This is a frightening move as it means Belle will have no way of escaping.
But that’s not all he has in store for her. He hears her, Mandy (Lisa Riley) and Lydia (Karen Blick) playfully teasing him on the puppy cam, unaware he can hear them. What they mean as harmless fun, Tom interprets as the ultimate betrayal.
He catches them all off guard by suddenly returning home, leaving Belle fearful that he’ll be unkind to her family.
But he’s uncharacteristically nice and Belle, who’s slowly getting the measure of her husband, wonders if it’s all an act.
She’s right, but unfortunately for her, she realises too late. As soon as Mandy and Lydia leave, Tom’s mood turns threatening, and it becomes clear very quickly that Belle is in serious danger.
How will Tom take his anger out on Belle?