Who killed Tom King? One of Emmerdale’s biggest whodunnits explored and the killer revealed
Tom had a LOT of enemies who wanted him dead!
Tom King was pushed from an upstairs window in Home Farm and plunged to his death in Emmerdale in 2006. The scenes are currently airing in Classic Emmerdale and once again have everyone gripped. So who killed Tom King?
His shocking murder sparked one of the biggest whodunnits in Emmerdale history and set off a chain of events that still has repercussions today – almost 20 years after the episode first aired!
In the episode of Classic Emmerdale, patriarch Tom was getting ready for his Christmas Day wedding to manipulative Rosemary Sinclair.
But the groom had made a lot of enemies in the village from his own three sons – Matthew, Jimmy and Carl – to disgruntled pensioner Len Reynolds.
So the scene was set, and the enemies gathered at Home Farm for the wedding celebrations
Tom King is murdered in Emmerdale!
Even on his wedding day, Tom doesn’t shy away from upsetting people so after a few confrontations with various family members, he suggests to his bride that they sneak away from the party to spend some time alone together.
But in his bedroom, though, there’s trouble for Tom as Bob Hope is lurking! That leads to another confrontation – and little does Tom know, but Bob’s son Jamie is sneaking around too.
As the wedding guests gather outside to watch the fireworks, they’re horrified when Tom is shoved through an upstairs window and plunges to the ground in a shower of broken glass.
What a drama!
But with so many enemies, there are many local Emmerdale residents who could be guilty.
Here’s how the suspects line up.
Who killed Tom King in Emmerdale?
Jamie and Bob Hope, and Terry Woods
Heartbroken Bob and Jamie were grieving the death of Dawn – Bob’s daughter and Jamie’s sister – in the run up to Christmas. She was killed when the show home on the King family’s new housing development exploded. Bob and Jamie blamed the Kings for the explosion – which was fair enough really, because it was their fault.
Terry was Dawn’s ex-husband and dad to her son TJ. He was devastated by the death and together with Bob and Jamie, hell-bent on vengeance. He also blamed Tom for TJ being snatched and taken to live abroad. Tom had paid Dawn’s mum, Jean, off and she had taken the little lad and fled to Morocco.
The death of Tom King in Emmerdale: Carl King
The youngest of the surviving King brothers, Carl was set to take over his dad’s business. But just before the wedding his fiancée Chas Dingle called off their engagement.
Heartbroken Carl discovered Tom was responsible – he’d manipulated Chas into calling things off. And as Tom’s wedding day dawned, Carl really wasn’t happy about it!
Jimmy and Matthew King
The other King brothers had beef with their dad, too. They were furious that he’d offered the business to Carl and their years of built-up resentment was about to bubble over!
Chas Dingle
Carl’s ex-fiancée had been passing information about the house explosion to Jamie Hope. When Tom found out he was furious and that led to him forcing Chas to break up with Carl.
Chas arrived at the wedding, drunk and shouting the odds about Tom’s manipulation. What did she do next?
Grayson Sinclair
Tom’s new stepson was hiding a big secret – he was gay, but living a lie with his wife, Perdy. Rosemary revealed that Grayson was seeing men on the side, and Tom was cruel about it.
On the wedding day, Grayson was still upset and worried his secret was going to come out.
Len Reynolds
Loyal Len was fiercely protective of his friend Edna Birch. She’d been an unlikely friend to Tom King until he blackmailed her to keep quiet about the house explosion, used devastating family secrets against her, and broke her heart, too. With Edna struggling as the wedding approached, Len was out for revenge…
Rosemary King
On the wedding day Tom announced that he was actually giving the business to his new wife, Rosemary. Obviously, his sons were all raging about that, but was Rosemary also ready to get rid of her new husband?
So who killed Tom King in Emmerdale?
Emmerdale actually filmed several possible endings and while we were all kept guessing for weeks evidence was eventually presented that the three brothers – Matthew, Carl and Jimmy – had all conspired together to murder their father.
Louise Appleton and her boyfriend Hari Prasad were paid by Rosemary to put forward fake evidence confirming the brothers’ guilt. Hari said he’s heard them talking about how they’d killed Tom and Louise backed up his story. However, Louise couldn’t go through with it and withdrew her statement, confessing she had lied.
Hari was arrested and the brothers were aquitted. But Carl then confessed he had killed his dad. They had argued over Chas and Tom had called her names. Carl hit him and then pushed him away, causing him to fall out of the window.
Carl was never found out
Things turned messy when Carl started dating DCI Grace Barraclough, who was trying to find out who killed Tom. She ended their relationship when she got nothing from Carl and his brothers were horrified to find out who he’d been seeing.
Carl then got himself arrested for drink driving so he could see Grace again. He confessed he had killed Tom. As they were going to the police station Grace was hit by a lorry and died. Despite Carl telling the police he was a killer, they ignored him as they tended to Grace.
Although Carl told several people in the village what he had done, to this day, Carl was never punished for his dad’s death. Unless him also being brutally murdered counts!
It might have taken five years, but Carl King did eventually pay the price for his crimes in Emmerdale when he was murdered by Cameron Murray.
Carl was portrayed as the ‘nice’ brother when he first arrived, not a hardnosed businessman like Matthew and Jimmy. But it soon became clear he wasn’t as good as all that…
Carl King and his first murder in Emmerdale
Things turned dark when he caused the death of local postman Paul Marsden. The pair were fixing a roof together and Paul started teasing Carl over his fear of heights.
As they continued to mess around, Paul lost his footing and fell. Carl and his brothers covered up the death by moving the body so it looked like he had had an accident on his own roof, completely on his own.
Carl was never found out over this death. On the surface, it could be seen as an accident, at this point Carl was not a cold-blooded killer.
Carl and Chas
Chas Dingle was really Carl’s true love, but he just kept messing it up by cheating! They did finally make it down the aisle, but Chas jilted him as she knew he was having an affair with Eve Jensen.
To top it off, Chas had also stolen £30k from Carl to ‘compensate’ her for all the pain he’d caused.
In 2011, Carl decided he would stop at nothing to get Chas back. He thought blackmailing her over her affair with Cameron Murray would work, but it didn’t.
Carl King dies in Emmerdale
Carl’s death had been a long time coming by 2011 as, like his father before him, he became one of the most hated figures in the village.
Chas tried to keep Carl sweet by pretending she would run away with him, but when he realised she had no intention doing so, Carl flipped. He revealed he had killed his father for her. Disgusted Chas tried to flee, but Carl grabbed her and forced himself on her, trying to rape her.
Chas hit Carl on the head with a brick in self-defence. Believing she had killed him, she left him lying there. Chas even stood trial for his murder, but she was acquitted.
Meanwhile, what actually happened was Cameron went back and delivered the final blow that killed Carl who screamed: “I’m indestructible” as Cameron smacked him over the head and Carl fell to the ground, dead.
Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale? All the cast exits, arrivals and returns
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.
Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.
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