Emmerdale fans have been quick to criticise Amelia Spencer's mistake after Friday's explosive episode.
The ITV soap has recently delved into a plot focused on coercive control and abuse featuring Tom King (James Chase) and Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper).
In recent episodes, Belle courageously left Tom and revealed the truth about his abusive behaviour to her family, with the Dingles promising to protect her. As doubts about him grew, wicked Tom last week took down all the surveillance cameras he had installed at Belle's home for spying purposes. At the same time, he professed his innocence to his uncle Jimmy King, labelling Belle's allegations as lies.
As word of Tom's abusive behaviour spread, he was fired from his job at the vet clinic. While many villagers started to turn against the villain, some still supported Tom, despite his evil deeds. Jimmy defended his nephew, insisting on his innocence, while new love interest Amelia also sided with Tom, even after Belle warned her about his abusive tendencies, reports the Manchester Evening News.
On Friday, when it seemed like Tom had disappeared, it was unveiled at the end of the episode that it was all part of his evil plan.
Meeting him on the outskirts of the village, Amelia, who had earlier confronted Belle in the village, passed on information to a plotting Tom. Amelia hoped they could spend time together but Tom rejected her, stating he needed her to spy for him so he could finally divorce Belle and be with her.
Taking to social media, viewers were quick to slam Amelia for making a huge mistake with Tom and also pointing out a forgotten storyline. Soap fans will recall that Amelia was stalked by a man called Lloyd, making her life a misery. However, no one took it seriously due to a lack of evidence and eventually Amelia's father, Dan Spencer, took the law into his own hands when he delivered a deadly punch to Lloyd with the character now serving eight years in prison.
Viewers pointed out why would Amelia not believe Belle when she too wasn't believed about her own stalking experience. One person said: "I mean she was stalked and harassed herself like she has no compassion at all to belle", a different account wrote: "Belle did warn her but she didn’t wanna listen!" while another added: "To be fair Belle's already tried to warn her & sorry but come on, surely even Amelia must realise the more people come forward tryna warn her the more there must actually be something to it right? Get her not believing Belle but Amy & Kerry are just tryna protect her #Emmerdale."
If you have been affected by this story, you can access free and confidential support from Refuge’s 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 and digital support via live chat Monday-Friday 3-10pm. You can also visit the tech safety website to learn more about technology-facilitated abuse.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
