The moment Emmerdale fans have been waiting for will finally arrive tonight as paedophile Maya Stepney takes to the stand for her court trial… but will she be found guilty or not guilty?
While the majority of fans are desperate for her to be found guilty and get the punishment she deserves after months of grooming teenager Jacob Gallagher, there are some who want her to walk free.
She’s set to find out her fate in the second of Thursday’s (June 20) two episodes after pleading guilty to exchaning inappropriate texts with the teenager, hoping for a more leniant sentence.
Meanwhile, Jacob will be seen lying to his family, sure Maya will walk free and they can run away together.
He packs his bags and tells Pollard he’s moving back in with his dad, David Metcalfe, but secretly plots to meet Maya after court and flee – but will they get the chance?
Some fans really, really, really hope not.
#emmerdale catchup:
OMG Jacob is totally snowed by Maya, thank the soap gods that she in court tomorrow. Better get sent down & be gone Sick of her!!
Like Jai & Laurel, good chemistry!!Manpreet please get Rhona’s med worked out
Cain had a right to be upset! @emmerdale
— Steven Wilson (@ncRobronfan) 20 June 2019
Maya better get sent down tomorrow. #Emmerdale
— (@Shana_Banana_44) 19 June 2019
Hope Maya gets found guilty!
— Michelle #BounceBack ♡ (@mishybabez_) 19 June 2019
Maya better be going down for this! #Emmerdale
— Vanessa Booty (@Vanessabooty1) 19 June 2019
I hope Maya gets sent down after all this!! #Emmerdale
— Kirsty ✨ (@Kirst_Thomas_) 19 June 2019
#Emmerdale good evening is maya ever going down for this grooming storyline has been going n too long we need maya to go to prison x
— princessdarkside (@sparklebeach) 19 June 2019
But in a shock twist, many fans are calling for her to get away with it so she and Jacob can run away together…
Absolutely sick of Jacobs face, let’s hope Maya gets off to they can both do one #Emmerdale
— Sue (@suzie_wong_86) 19 June 2019
Kinda hopes Maya gets away with it. Then Jacob can sod off with her #Emmerdale
— Vicky (@deadstar37) 19 June 2019
Poor maya, hope they run away together, they are in love.
— Kenny (@ktplumblec) 19 June 2019
So @emmerdale has completely managed to ruin two very important sl, Vic’s and Jacob’s I actually hope that Jacob and Maya run away together so we don’t have to watch them any more
— Josie (@Josefin_H1) 19 June 2019
The answer is to run off with Maya, lad. Gretna Green. You know it makes sense. #Jakey #Emmerdale
— St Mick (@scuzzmonster2) 19 June 2019
Matthew Wolfenden, who plays David, spoke on Loose Women earlier this week about the surprising reaction some viewers have had to the plot.
The actor explained that they’ve had messages from people who don’t think what Maya’s doing is abuse because Jacob is a male.
He told panellists Andrea McLean, Coleen Nolan, Brenda Edwards and Jane Moore: “We had tweets saying ‘yeah, go on Jacob, this is every schoolboy’s fantasy’.
“A lot of people still don’t think what happened is abuse and grooming because the men are always seen as the alpha male, whether he’s 15 or not.
“Because it’s an older woman they think ‘well he could have done something about it, this isn’t grooming, this isn’t sexual abuse’.
“But you spin it on its head the other way round with an older man and a young girl and there’d be uproar.”
He also told how some people couldn’t watch the storyline: “There were a lot people who said they hated the storyline and they couldn’t watch it.
“That’s exactly what we wanted to do. We didn’t want it to be the schoolboy fantasy of young boy and older teacher.
“We needed to make sure it was in no way titilating, we had to make it gross and disturbing.”
David has been blaming himself for not seeing what was happening right under his nose, while Priya, Tracy and Leyla are all still trying to put behind them what happened in the woods on the night they found out about Maya’s grooming.
David is even in therapy to work out how he can deal with everything that’s happened.
Meanwhile, despite bail conditions forbidding her to have any contact with Jacob, Maya just couldn’t help herself last night when the pair snuck off in her car.
Jacob was horrified when he saw a live stream on Noah’s phone of some girls confronting Maya.
Dashing off to where the confrontation was happening, Jacob rescued Maya, but she played the victim to perfection and told him to leave.
However, Jacob wasn’t taking no for an answer, playing right into Maya’s hands by following her, and eventually she told him to get into the car.
As the forbidden pair talked, Maya’s facade cracked and she confessed how awful her life had become and how scared she is about her upcoming court case, and it didn’t take long for the pair to be kissing again.
Although the pair plotted to run away together if Maya is cleared, will they get that chance when tonight’s verdict is announced?
As Maya takes to the stand in her trial, she finally faces up to the crimes she has committed.
But as the jury reach their verdict, will the paedophile teacher face jail?
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
Do you think Maya will be found guilty? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!