Emmerdale viewers are buzzing with theories that vile Tom King will finally get his just desserts, and it’ll be Piper the dog who dishes it out. The ITV soap’s baddie Tom (portrayed by James Chase) has been subjecting his wife Belle Dingle (played by Eden Taylor-Draper) to a harrowing ordeal of emotional and physical abuse for months.

Belle, gathering the courage to ditch her vet hubby Tom, only saw him escalate his twisted games. In a shocking twist, he recently duped Belle into believing her cherished dog Piper had been killed after he hit her with his car.

Tom’s sickening ruse was all about pulling Belle back into his toxic orbit, but his scheme backfired spectacularly.

After staging a bogus funeral for Piper, Tom was later seen offloading the dog to another family, pinning the blame on an ‘abusive’ previous owner.

But Belle’s no fool she smelt a rat and figured Tom was behind Piper’s so-called “accident”, reports

In an explosive face-off, Tom resorted to menacing threats and even tried gaslighting Belle, claiming she imagined his cruelty. Belle’s fighting back though, reaching out to the cops and invoking Clare’s Law to check if Tom’s past is as dark as she suspects.

Yet, some fans reckon Piper will scamper back to Belle, setting the stage for Tom’s downfall. Emmerdale enthusiasts have been buzzing on Reddit, with one fan sparking a debate by asking: “Why do people think Piper will kill Tom? ” This led to a flurry of theories about the dog causing an accidental death.

One viewer speculated: “The only way Piper could realistically kill Tom would be if he was to trip over her, fall, and crack his head open. She’s far too tiny to be able to savage him to death, sadly.”

Another chimed in with their take on why Tom got Belle a small dog: “Which is precisely why he got Belle a small dog instead of, say, an Alsatian, which would undoubtedly have fought back, defended Belle, and likely have attacked Tom about 45 times a week. Smaller dogs are easier for cowardly Tom to bully and control.”

A second fan laid out a scenario: “The only way I could see that theory working is if she was to run off from the new owners and find her way back to Belle’s. The dog runs out as Tom is driving, he swerves and hits a tree killing him instantly.”

Yet another added their creative twist: “There are plenty of roundabout ways she could be his undoing. He could trip over her and slash his neck on a shard of Lisa’s urn that wasn’t cleared up.

“She could escape and come home, just as Tom is about to burn the house down. He spills petrol over himself and accidentally sets himself on fire, as she escapes through a catflap.”

One other fan quipped: “He’s in the house, checking cameras, or just smugly laughing to himself. She comes home, he tries to catch her, but trips and breaks his neck. As he’s lying there, paralysed, Piper sits on his face and waits for Belle to come home to find his corpse.”

Meanwhile, another fan simply stated: “Cause Piper is the hero we all deserve. GOATed.”