Tom King’s (James Chase) behaviour in Emmerdale has been getting increasingly vile over recent weeks in his bid to exert total control over his wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper).

From tampering with her medications to keeping her under constant surveillance with tracking apps and cameras in the house to selling her car, Tom has tried his best to make sure Belle is totally reliant on him.

He’s undermined her confidence, belittled her family and tried to cut her off from friends like Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson).

He’s also been violent, including punching Belle in the stomach after flying into a rage with her. Belle has learned to be vigilant and tries to head his rages off before they can get any worse by appeasing him or distracting him – such as blurting out that she was pregnant when he seemed to be about to hit her again.

Several people, including Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) and Wendy Posner (Susan Cookson) and Belle’s counsellor at the mental health unit have noticed that all isn’t well in Belle and Tom’s relationship, but so far Belle hasn’t been able to open up about what’s been happening to her.

Discovering she was pregnant came as a huge shock to Belle, who knew she wasn’t ready to have children. She wanted to keep it a secret from Tom while she thought through her options but then revealed the news in that moment of fear.

Despite this, Belle made the decision to have a termination. Having realised that Tom was tracking her, she put her phone in Amelia Spencer’s (Daisy Campbell) baby Esther’s pram so it would look like she was still in the village if he looked at his app, and headed off to the clinic.

In upcoming episodes she tells her mental health coordinator, Rachel, that she told Tom she had a miscarriage rather than an abortion.

As their conversation progresses, Belle finally admits to herself that Tom has been abusive to her. Rachel supports her in deciding that she needs to take a break from Tom.

She arranges to go and see Debbie (Charley Webb) and Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) in Scotland and packs a bag ready to leave and put the horrors of the last few months behind her.