Emmerdale will no longer feature in the soap category at the upcoming BAFTA TV Awards after one of its former writers admitted to assaulting and strangling his partner
Emmerdale has been withdrawn from the best soap category at the BAFTA TV Awards.
ITV’s long-running soap has highlighted the issue of domestic abuse in its storylines, including Belle Dingle’s torment at the hands of abusive husband Tom King. Tom is currently serving three years in prison for domestic abuse and coercive control of Belle.
ITV has now pulled Emmerdale from the best soap category at the upcoming BAFTAs as one of his former writers admitted to assaulting his partner. Former soap writer Martin Fustes has admitted to assault, causing actual bodily harm and an offence of intentional suffocation.
A statement sent to BAFTA voters on Tuesday read: “ITV and Emmerdale have taken the decision to withdraw the episode nominations from this year’s BAFTA TV Awards. This is in consideration of developments in recent days involving a member of the scriptwriting team.”
Fustes has been handed a two-year suspended prison sentence, 150 hours of unpaid work, 15 days of rehabilitation and a 26-session probation service domestic abuse programme in Hull Crown Court. He worked on Emmerdale for over ten years and contributed to domestic abuse storylines.
However, he will no longer be writing for the soap as ITV have told him he will no longer be working with them. An ITV spokesperson said: “We were shocked and appalled to learn about the recent court case involving Emmerdale writer, Martin Fustes.
“Mr Fustes is a freelance writer and he has been informed that he will no longer be writing for Emmerdale. Everyone at ITV and ‘Emmerdale’ abhors domestic abuse, which is why we have been highlighting the issue in a major storyline over the last 12 months.
The statement added: “The Emmerdale production team were not aware of these charges against Mr Fustes until we were alerted over the weekend.” It comes after Hull Crown Court heard how Fustes began suffocating his partner on January 27 after an argument at their East Yorkshire home, where they lived with their children.
She feared that she was going to die when he started suffocating her by putting his hands over her mouth and nose. The court heard that Fustes told her that he wanted to kill her and chop up her face, and that he wished that she could be set on fire and hanged from a tree.
The court heard how Fustes stopped his partner from leaving the bedroom, put his hands around her neck two or three times. The court also heard that he prodded her in the face and upper body with his fingers, keys and a vape, and spat at her.
Samantha Laws, prosecuting, said that the couple had been together for about 13 years at the time and were living together with their children in Beverley. Samantha said that he was “repeatedly shoving and pushing her back to the bed” and “she attempted to escape. He placed his hands over her mouth and nose and stopped her ability to breathe. She could see stars.”
The court heard: “She was able to escape through the front door of the house. She began to run to the local police station but he quickly caught up with her and pleaded with her to return. She did return home.”
The woman claimed in court that the incident was the result of more than ten years of abuse. She said she was “distraught and sickened” by the verbal abuse she faced, HullLive reported.
She said of the suffocation: “I thought I was going to die. I had no other option but to escape and run down the street. I struggle to feel safe in my home. I can’t help but relive the incident, often as nightmares. The disruption he has caused in our lives has been significant. I started to feel relieved to be free of often daily abuse.”
Mitigating lawyer Connor Stuart said: “It’s a serious but isolated incident. He understands that it is over. This relationship is concluded. He has shown genuine remorse. This is the last time that he will trouble these courts.”
Fustes must pay £2,000 in compensation and £150 in costs, and a ten-year restraining order has been issued against him. This is in addition to his suspended sentence and programme requirements.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
