ITV Emmerdale's Cain Dingle 'exits' after savage attack

The fate of Cain Dingle, played by Jeff Hordley, appears uncertain after recent heartbreaking scenes on Emmerdale. The ITV soap's hour-long episode on Tuesday saw Moira Dingle, portrayed by Natalie J Robb, along with Amy Wyatt (Natalie Ann Jamieson) visit Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) in prison.

Matty, falsely accused of stabbing Samson Dingle (Sam Hall), shares his fears about imprisonment, prompting his mother Moira to promise to do everything she can to free him.

Cain, knowing that the true culprit was Josh Cope (Osian Morgan), tries persuading Samson to confess and spare Matty. His efforts fall through as he informs Moira that Samson is persisting with his lie.

At the Woolpack, Moira has Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) distract Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins), enabling a confrontation with Samson in the toilet where she threatens him: "This pain is going to get a whole lot worse unless you start telling the truth."

Despite Moira's desperate pleas, an unyielding Samson reveals his hope for Matty's permanent imprisonment, reports the Express.

Back at home, Moira scolds Cain for failing to help Matty. His appeal to her to avoid further confrontations with Samson fuels her frustration, leading to the retort: "I wouldn't need to go near him if you stepped up. You reckon you're the head of this family. Start acting like it."

When Cain explained he couldn't coerce Samson into speaking the truth, Moira shot back asserting that "the old Cain" would have been able to and added: "You go to prison for your own son but you won't even get your hands dirty for mine."

Moira continued to berate her husband, insinuating that his failure to take a stand against Samson was due to a fear that his nephew might retaliate in the same manner as Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) had done previously.

"One nephew already put you in hospital, so you bottled it because you thought the other one might do the same," Moira lashed out. "You are not the man I married. The old Cain, he'd have taken Samson apart."

Undeterred, Moira carried on poking at Cain, adding: "The old Cain always had my back. He wasn't afraid of anything or anyone. He was fearless."

She later averred that people had lost respect for him following Aaron's actions.

Attempting to calm the situation, Cain conveyed his intentions to overlook Moira's emotional outburst. Despite her efforts to provoke Cain into an angry response, he refused to respond negatively.

This only served to further infuriate Moira as she castigated: "You are a coward, Cain, face it. You are weak and you are no use to me. I don't even know what the point of you is anymore."

Does this suggest that Cain may eventually turn his back on his wife and bid farewell to the village for good?