The mystery of who attacked Joel Marshall (Max Murray) has significantly deepened after two unexpected characters entered the fray as potential prime suspects.
The attack on Joel
Joel, as fans are aware, was brutally attacked last week. The incident came just 45 minutes after a group of local teens banded together to try and get rid of Joel, whose incel behaviour last year left Walford horrified. Joel was jailed after carrying out a horrifying attack on stepmum Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig). He also had sex with Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) and filmed it without her consent or knowledge, subsequently posting it online.
His comeback has proven traumatic for Avani and Amy Mitchell (Ellie Dadd), who spearheaded the plot to demonstrate to Joel just how unwelcome he is around the Square. After inviting him to an end-of-term party in the park, the teens tied Joel up, filming him as they poured beer all over him. Later, Joel was found unconscious – with a serious injury to the back of the head.
New suspects emerge
A police investigation was launched, with DC Craig Ingram (Matthew James Bailey) on a mission to find out who attacked Joel. The teens kept shtum about the torment they inflicted on Joel prior to the attack, fearing it wouldn’t bode well for them. However, Lily Slater (Lillia Turner) showed Jean (Gillian Wright) the video they filmed and Jean felt compelled to share it with Jack (Scott Maslen), who resolved to keep the clip out of the hands of the police in a bid to protect Amy, Lily and the others.
As the teens were told to keep their distance from one another in light of this discovery, Avani received a text message from Denzel Danes (Jaden Ladega), which read: 'I think we should tell them'.
The question is: tell them what? Does this confirm that Denzel and Avani were the ones to seek revenge on Joel? Were they perhaps responsible for the attack? Or is this simply a red herring to throw us off the scent?
Last week, Barney Mitchell (Lewis Bridgeman) pleaded with brother Harry (Elijah Holloway) to help him hide the hammer in the wake of the attack, which could suggest that he was the one who carried out the crime. But with Avani and Denzel now in the mix, perhaps that’s not the case after all.
