Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) has been somewhat unlucky in love over the years, and her luck ain’t about to change in Emmerdale thanks to a dark character preying on the villagers.

Laurel lost husband Ashley (John Middleton) to Alzheimer’s, her marriage to Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) was short-lived, and her marriage to lying Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson) was a total disaster.

Laurel then had a fling with the vicar, Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin) – until Jai and Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) found out and they had to call it a day to spare their feelings.

Laurel is now open to finding a new relationship, and there’s a new man in the village who’s caught her eye – Ray Walters (Joe Absolom).

Now this is very bad news indeed.

Kind-hearted and former vicar’s wife Laurel has no idea that dark and mysterious Ray is rotten to the core, having lured teenagers April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) into his lair by using faux niceties.

He’s then trapped them with fake drug drop robberies that has left them believing they are thousands in his debt.

Ray is painting himself as a reasonable man to the pair to draw them deeper into his clutches, leading them to believe he’s doing them a favour by working off the money they supposedly owe.