Which Sugden brother is actually more evil? Robert vs John’s crimes explained

Both have blood on their hands

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By Joel Harley

Jun 20 2025

By Joel Harley

Jun 20 2025

It’s the battle of the Sugden brothers in Emmerdale at the moment, as John Sugden faces off against his estranged sibling Robert.

The pair’s vendetta continued this week, as John paid his brother a visit in prison. As they exchanged barbs, killer John let the mask slip, helping Robert to realise that there’s something seriously not right with his ex’s new man.

And, as he walked free last night (Thursday, June 18) Robert remained committed to finding out what skeletons John’s hiding in his closet. Robert is one to talk though – if anyone should know anything about bad behaviour, it’s Robert. Takes one to know one, after all.

Whether you’re team Robron or team Johron/Aarohn, neither man is an angel. But who’s truly worse? Chaotic Robert, or demented ‘hero’ wannabe John? Let’s take a look at their rap sheets!

Robert vs John in Emmerdale

Young Robert: car crash lies and the death of Max King

Wild child Robert has always been a bit of a wrong ‘un. However, given his uprbinging, it’s hard to blame him.

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Growing up, dad Jack Sugden always tended to treat adoptive brother Andy as the golden child – yes, even after he inadvertently burned Robert’s other mother, Sarah Sugden, to death. This left Robert as the black sheep, and deeply resentful of his brother.

In 2001, Robert’s nastier, more manipulative side came to the fore. After becoming involved in a teen joy riding incident which got their teacher killed (he wasn’t to blame, but was instrumental in the cover-up), Robert went on to cause a car crash of his own. In the ensuing confusion, he swapped seats in the car so that his then-girlfriend Elaine took the blame.

Months later, he began an affair with Andy’s girlfriend, Katie. After little sister Victoria caught them in the act, Robert and Katie threatened her into silence – scaring her so much she would only speak using a puppet afterwards. After their affair was exposed, Robert and Andy continued to feud, with escalating intensity.

This cycle of violence (which included Andy accidentally shooting their dad instead of Robert!) inevitably got someone else killed when Robert’s reckless driving caused a land Rover to flip, killing forgotten King sibling Max.

The Robron era: manslaughter, blackmail, kidnapping, more manslaughter

During his latest return, Robert met Aaron Dingle. The rest, as they say, is history. Catching their affair while Robert was engaged to Chrissie, a vengeful Katie started blackmailing them. And, as they argued in a barn, Robert pushed Katie, causing her to fall to her death.

With Katie silenced, Aaron and Robert’s toxic romance continued. This led to Robert almost killing and then blackmailing Paddy – subsequently holding a tied up Aaron at gunpoint when he sought revenge.

Even when the pair weren’t trying to kill each other, Robert’s crimes continued. This included faking a victim of child abuse in an attempt to help Aaron in his case against dad Gordon.

Just as things were starting to look up for Robert and John, they were torn apart when Rob attacked his sister’s rapist, Lee Posner. Robert was held responsible when Lee died of his injuries, and sentenced to fourteen years without parole.

Of course, we all know how that turned out…

Robert vs John Round I: How many crimes has Robert committed in Emmerdale?

Robert has committed over 20 serious-to-not-so-serious crimes on the show, including (but not limited to) manslaughter, assault, kidnapping, and dangerous driving. His villains.fandom page lists 21 crimes in total – most of them against either Aaron or Andy.

On paper, Robert takes this one.

Accidental killer John just wants to be a ‘hero’

In Robert’s absence, Aaron met his ex’s long-lost brother, John Sugden. This soon developed into another toxic romance, and Aaron and John moved in together and celebrated their engagement, all within the space of a year.

What Aaron doesn’t know is that John has plenty of blood on his hands. John is in possession of a crazed hero complex, which causes him to put lives at risk so as to save them again, and be seen as the hero.

So far, this has included *deep breath* his spiking Jacob Metcalfe’s coffee with nuts, tampering with Chas Dingle’s medication, causing heavy farm equipment to fall on Moira Dingle and encouraging Cain Dingle to drink himself to near-death. He’s also attacked Liam Cavanagh (to be fair, he thought he was Mack) and caused a catastrophic slurry leak to contaminate the village water supply.

In addition to the above, John is also responsible for the death of Nate Robinson. This accidental murder came as he tried to administer a spot of non-consensual first aid to beaten up Nate.

With his death now public knowledge, John’s pulled all the stops in trying to cover his tracks – even framing Tracy so as to shut the investigation down prematurely.

Robert vs John Round II: How many crimes has John committed in Emmerdale?

John’s crimes (which don’t include those against fashion) are widely agreed to be manslaughter, theft, assault, criminal damage, threats of violence and attempted murder. So far.

Don’t count him out yet though, the man’s only just hitting his groove.

Robert vs John in Emmerdale: who wins?

The brothers have drawn battle lines since Robert’s shock return last month. And, with Robert now (rightly) convinced that John’s hiding something, neither party is going to back off anytime soon. But who’s truly worse, out of the two of them?

Both men have committed multiple serious crimes – up to, and including, accidental murder. Sure, John didn’t mean to kill anyone, but his cold cover-up of Anthony’s murder and the way he casually lobbed Nate in a lake don’t exactly mesh with his ‘hero’ persona either.

He probably would have killed comatose Aidan Moore too, if he hadn’t already succumbed to his coma again.

Robert, meanwhile, will stop at nothing to get while he wants. And right now, that’s Aaron. John’s body count may be the pressing issue right now – the rate he’s going, it’s only a matter of time before he kills again – but we wouldn’t count against Robert using his nastier side to turn the tables.

The man once tied his future husband to a radiator, so we can only imagine his capability for violence against a man he’s not in love with. And, if there’s one thing Robert Sugden knows, it’s violent vendettas with a brother.

Which one are you rooting for?

Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale in 2025? A complete guide to departures, returns and new arrivals in the Dales