Emmerdale airs crucial April Windsor update in ITVX edition

As the search continued, Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) was shaken to wake from a vivid dream, in which a police officer confirmed April's death to him as they stood near a body in the woods.

Having slept on the sofa, keeping guard on the family home after wife Rhona Goskirk (Zoë Henry) was terrorised over their situation last week, Marlon covered his distress.

His former stepson Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) headed out to look for April, before returning with no news as the locals regrouped.

In the Woolpack, Rhona's mum Mary (Louise Jameson) left Marlon furious when she uttered the one thought that was haunting him – the prospect that April could be dead.

Mary insisted that they needed to be realistic, but Marlon hated her for daring to speak the words aloud.

Later, though, he admitted to Rhona that he feared the same outcome for their beloved April, and told Mary as much when she apologised for upsetting him.

But the day took a turn when Marlon and Rhona were asked to wait for police liaison officer Anna (Rhea Bailey) at the house; and it was clear that something had changed in the investigation.

Anna explained that there had been a sighting of April in Central Leeds. Though the footage Anna shared was grainy, Marlon instantly recognised his daughter on the screen.

Finally, he had hope that they would find April alive. But will they be able to bring her home? And whose car did she get into back in December?

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Emmerdale airs Monday to Friday at 7:30pm on ITV1. Stream on ITVX.

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