Emmerdale fans fear Manpreet is DEAD after latest chilling twist

Emmerdale fans have been left fearing the worst for Manpreet Sharma after she went missing in the woods following Meena Jutla's shocking courtroom showdown. 

Viewers watched Emmerdale in horror last night (Thursday, March 17) as Meena finally took to the stand for her plea hearing, where she faced her multiple crimes at last. 

Manpreet was there to see her sister face the judge, with Charles, Leyla and Liam also there to watch the village serial killer make her plea for killing Andrea, Ben and Leanna, as well as for keeping Manpreet and Vinny hostage with the intent to kill them, along with countless other crimes that she has committed. 

The plea hearing got off to a good start when Meena admitted to being guilty of imprisoning and attempting to murder Manpreet and the attempted murder of Leyla. However, things took a sinister turn when Menna then told the court she was not guilty of killing Ben, Andrea or Leanna.

The fact there will now have to be a murder trial for the three killings sent shockwaves through the court, with Liam's grief over losing Leanna hitting him all over again, while Leyla got angry and had to leave the court before she was thrown out.

The reality that she would have to now testify against her sister in court hit Manpreet like a bus, and by the time she had arrived back in the village she was suffering from full-blown panic attacks.

While Charles was on hand to help her through the first attack, Manpreet was on her own for the second and third attack, having promised Charles that she would get medical help from Wendy at the surgery, but instead driving her car to the woods to get some space.

However, the move turned out to be a big mistake as she soon came around from her third panic attack to find it had got dark. By this point, Charles was beside himself when he realised Manpreet was missing, but instead of answering his desperate calls on the phone, Manpreet got out of her car and wandered into the dark woods alone.

Fans are worried that things don't look good for Manpreet and took to social media to share their panic...

With Meena now facing the chance to put on the performance of a lifetime and convince a jury that she is innocent of her evil crimes, could Manpreet be throwing her sister a lifeline by disappearing? 

Without Manpreet as the prime witness to everything Meena is capable of, could this be the chance the killer has been waiting for? Is she about to literally get away with murder? 

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7.30 pm on ITV, with a hour-long episode on Thursdays — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on ITV Hub.