Angel is facing a custodial sentence after accidentally killing Heath (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale recently aired a shocking car accident which saw Heath Hope (Sebastian Dowling) sadly lose his life, though neither Cathy Hope (Gabrielle Dowling) nor Angelica King (Rebecca Bakes) were prepared to take the blame.

Eventually, Angel ended up breaking down on the day of Heath’s funeral and confessing to mum Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) that she had been driving at the time of the crash, before ultimately confessing to the police as well.

In upcoming scenes, Nicola and husband Jimmy King (Nick Miles) get an idea of what Angel’s future may look like when they receive news of her court date, and it looks far from bright.

‘I think Nicola panics when the court date is set because initially she’s optimistic that with Angel’s good character the judge might be lenient,’ actress Nicola Wheeler admitted.

‘Obviously because it was an accident, given Angel’s age, given the fact that there is dual responsibility and the other children were older than she was and there was perhaps a little bit of peer pressure.’

Unfortunately for Nicola, her hopes are shattered after a conversation with solicitor Ethan Anderson (Emile John), in which he explains that Angel is likely to be handed a custodial sentence.

Desperate to avoid this, Nicola encourages Angel to lie about her confession.

‘She has a conversation with Ethan who says due to the fact that a death was involved, a custodial sentence is likely and this panics Nicola – hence why she comes up with the very strange idea of perhaps using Cathy’s illness as a way of making Cathy take the blame, suggesting Cathy bullied Angel into confessing when in actual fact she didn’t do it.’

Nicola is determined to keep the truth about the likely sentence from Angel (Picture: ITV)

Cathy was recently diagnosed with PMDD, a condition that leaves her with mood swings and has previously led her to lash out.

Nicola is determined too do whatever it takes to protect her daughter, and she urges Jimmy not to tell her about the likelihood of a custodial sentence.

‘Nicola wants to protect Angelica and I guess it’s while there’s an element of hope Nicola wants to cling to that.

‘Even though truly deep down she knows it’s ridiculous and the best thing would be to tell Angel the truth because we’ve seen what happens when you tell lies, we’ve seen how Angel couldn’t cope with that. Obviously a 14 year old can’t. And Angel still is in a lot of emotional turmoil about what she did.

Nicola and Jimmy are full of worry as they head to the court with Angelica (Picture: ITV)

‘While all this is going on you’ve still got somebody who has to deal with the fact that they accidentally killed their friend. And none of that is being addressed at the moment because they’re so hung up on what the actual punishment will be.’

With Angel likely to spend time behind bars, Nicola revealed that her character will be faced with immense guilt in the aftermath.

‘We must remember that while Nicola does have three children Angelica is her biological baby girl. I think like any parent it becomes about will your child cope? What will happen to your child? Who will they be when they come out of this mess?

‘And also an incredible sense of guilt. Did she go wrong somewhere? It’s a huge thing when Angel reveals, “Remember you let me drive the car once down a track?” You sort of suddenly think, “Oh God, am I the reason why? If I hadn’t done that she might not have borrowed the keys and had a play around in the vans.”

‘There’s all that sort of thing going on. But I think the biggest thing is guilt because she can’t protect her child from this. As much as she is desperately trying to, and it’s why Jimmy and her make mistakes. They make huge mistakes and they realise afterwards the mistakes they’ve made and they hold their hands up and they are truly sorry for them.

‘Anyone would try to protect their child but at some point she can’t help her. I think she will feel wretched and I think she will feel guilty and it will be a massive strain on their family relationship as well.’

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The future looks bleak.