April Windsor – the gentle girl, once the light of the Marlon family – is now in the darkest arc of her life.

Emmerdale confirmed: April was “groomed”, subtly manipulated, pushed into the path of crime by Celia and Ray.

The story begins when April gets acquainted with a new group of friends.

They give her a feeling of acceptance, of being “cool”, of being free.

But then everything goes wrong. From small instigations, April is pushed into selling drugs, delivering messages, and moving things. Then things get out of hand: she is taken to meet “clients”.

But the big shock is when April believes she has killed Callum – a pervert – by hitting him on the head with a wine bottle. She panics, runs into the night, and then Celia says:
“It’s okay, let me take care of it. But from now on, you are mine.”

That is the moment that marks April losing her freedom. She’s afraid of her family finding out, afraid of the police, afraid of herself. And that fear makes her the perfect prey for Celia and Ray.

April left home — not to be free, but to be trapped deeper into the criminal web. She’s living her darkest days, and if no one finds her, April will face the same fate as Anya — exploited to the point of exhaustion.

Viewers are heartbroken because April has always been the most innocent child on Emmerdale. And this arc shows: child victims are more easily manipulated than anyone else in the criminal world.