The soap had seemingly killed off Belle King’s beloved pet as part of Tom King’s plot for revenge against his estranged wife earlier this week.

It appeared as if Tom ran down Piper in the road, then pretended to Belle that he’d found the dog already injured. Belle realised Tom’s lies and subsequently went to the police.

In Wednesday’s (August 21) episode, Tom snuck into Dale Head while Belle was out to try to hack her computer. He was annoyed to find that Belle had changed her password.

Once he finally got into the laptop, he faced another setback as Belle had wiped her internet search history. He started installing spyware on the device before rushing out when Belle arrived home.

Tom managed to knock a magazine onto the floor on his way out. Lydia and Belle entered the house a few seconds later, yet Lydia noticed the misplaced magazine and moved it back without Belle realising.

Later, an ominous scene showed Tom remotely watching Belle on her laptop as she searched “How to tell a family you’re a victim of domestic abuse”.

A concerned Tom called in his friend Ollie, a lawyer, for legal advice in case Belle decided to go public with domestic violence allegations.

Meanwhile, Belle worked with the police using Clare’s Law for a disclosure on whether Tom had a documented history of domestic violence. Belle then held her private funeral for Piper where she laid the dog’s collar on her grave.

The episode’s shocking cliffhanger revealed that Piper the dog wasn’t dead after all — Tom had faked her demise to manipulate Belle’s emotions.

Viewers saw Tom meeting up with an unsuspecting couple outside a terraced house where he arranged for them to adopt the pup. Will Belle figure out what Tom is up to?

The soap had previously tried to reassure fans that the animal actor who plays Piper was completely fine while filming the harrowing scenes.