EastEnders airs huge trial confession in early BBC iPlayer release

With Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) held in custody for the next seven days for contempt of court, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) refused to testify, terrified that Dean's defence would tear her to shreds just like he had done to Sharon.

As the judge delayed proceedings, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) pulled some strings to visit Sharon and urge her to keep her head down in prison.

It was up to the remaining members of The Six to talk Linda round - with the help of a scheming Phil, who callously used Johnny Carter's (Charlie Suff) phone to lie that Linda's younger children, Annie and Ollie, had been injured.

At the hospital, Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) accosted a frantic Linda and quickly assured her that her kids were safe.

Insisting that Linda could take the stand for the sake of her kids' futures, Stacey managed to convince Linda to return to court.

The defence barrister tried to discredit her witness statement, using her alcoholism against her and suggesting she was therefore too drunk to identify Dean as the person moving Keanu Taylor's (Danny Walters) body at Christmas.

But Linda stood strong, vowing that she wasn't drinking that day, had known Dean for years and was certain she had indeed seen him.

This was enough to stop the questioning, leaving Linda a mixture of relieved and conflicted, while Dean privately insisted he had seen Linda drinking on Christmas Day while he was sneaking about her home!

Of course, viewers know that Linda is Keanu's true killer, but when Dean took his place on the stand, he may just have secured his conviction for the crime.

Linda joined Kathy, Suki, Stacey and Denise Fox (Diane Parish) to watch Dean being questioned, and when the prosecution tripped him up, Dean grew angry and publicly accused Sharon of murdering Keanu.

Dean went on to suggest that all six women had framed him. After faltering, Dean added that this was all because he had raped Linda a decade ago.

As Linda gasped in the gallery, Dean added: "I did it, I raped her. Send me down for that. But I'll tell you one thing, sweetheart," he told the prosecutor. "You ain't sending me down for a murder I didn't do."

The judge adjourned the trial, leaving Dean's fate hanging in the balance as far as murder is concerned. But for Linda, and for EastEnders fans, this was the moment we'd been waiting for since 2014.

Although Dean previously admitted to raping Linda, he had never done so in an official capacity, and was even found not guilty after attempting to rape Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) several years ago.

With the truth about his attack on Linda finally out, will Dean go down once and for all?

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EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

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