Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) was breathing the good, clean air of Emmerdale at the start of Monday (April 15)’s episode – understandably relieved that she was back at home rather than waking up in a prison cell.
Her trial on the charge of kidnapping baby Ivy was full of dramatic twists and turns last week. Marlon (Mark Charnock) made an impassioned case on his wife’s behalf that must have impressed the jury with his sincerity.
That all risked being undermined when Gus (Alan McKenna)’s barrister brought up Rhona’s past drug addiction and she was portrayed as a scheming, arrogant person. Rhona’s own appearance in the witness box did her no favours, as by then she was so riled up by what had gone before that she lost her temper.
There was a tense wait as the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict, then by a majority they decided she was not guilty.
As Rhona started to process the fact that she’s now a free woman, her mind turned straight back to baby Ivy and she asked Ethan (Emile John) about the process she would need to go through to get custody.
Ethan’s words were not encouraging. He said it could take years for the legal issues to be resolved, and during that time Ivy would probably be taken into care, as Gus was facing trial for using fraud to take the embryos without Rhona’s consent.
Rhona confided in Dawn (Olivia Bromley) that she was very downhearted after talking to Ethan and was terrified that she might lose the close bond she’d developed with Ivy. Dawn’s advice was not to give up, and she spoke from experience having gone through a custody battle for her son Lucas (Noah Ryan Aspinall).
As Rhona and Marlon agreed that they were prepared to do whatever it took to get custody of Ivy no matter how hard things got, Gus appeared.
He revealed that he’d pleaded guilty to the fraud, and he’s facing prison. Because of this, he wanted Rhona to have parental responsibility for Ivy because she has a bond with her and he doesn’t want his daughter going into care.
This should have been music to Rhona’s ears as it seemed like everything she wanted was about to be made easier for her. But the problem is that Gus has lied to Rhona too many times.
Previously he tried to bargain with her to change her story and say it was his wife Lucy who’d stolen the embryos, only for Rhona to discover that he still planned to take Ivy to France regardless.
So even though he’d offered a glimmer of hope, she wasn’t having it and threw him out. Marlon couldn’t believe it. ‘Are you mad?’ he asked her.
Has Rhona just made a massive mistake?
