EASTENDERS’ Ian Beale is hiding a deadly secret about the circumstances resulting in Dennis Rickman’s death. However, when the truth is finally revealed, will Sharon Mitchell ever forgive him or will he be forced to pay the price?
Ian Beale (played by Adam Woodyatt) has been Sharon Mitchell’s (Letitia Dean) shoulder to cry on as the EastEnders stalwart comes to terms with the death of her eldest son Dennis Rickman (Bleu Landau). However, what Sharon doesn’t know is that her close friend was directly responsible for her tragic loss and when she finds out there’s no doubt he’ll be forced to leave Walford for good.
On the night of the boat party, Sharon forbade Dennis from attending the event but he stormed when he realised Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) was back on the scene.
Sharon had promised her son that they would be leaving to start Walford to start anew but had purposely avoided telling him about Keanu’s return.
When Dennis bumped into the mechanic on the Square, he realised his mum had lied and ran off to get drunk at the party.
Sharon went into labour on the Square but not before telling Keanu that she had to put her eldest son first.
Meanwhile, Ian rushed to the boat to track down Dennis after discovering he was behind the bullying campaign that led to Bobby Beale (Clay Milner-Russell) being attacked.
The furious father chased Dennis below deck and confronted him in what appeared to be a cloakroom before locking him inside to teach him a lesson.
Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Keanu were involved in a violent confrontation in the control room which culminated in the boat crash.
As soon as Phil heard that the boat was sinking he rushed down to Dennis but in the end, he was unable to save him.
Ian pulled out a set of keys but his hands were shaking and he dropped them as the boat slowly filled with water.
While Dennis cried out to him, Ian assured him he wouldn’t leave him for long but the businessman failed to get help.
Instead, he returned with a fire hydrant and tried to beat down the door to set Dennis free.
But, once the pair were both free, a huge surge of water spread through the deck and separated them.
EastEnders viewers next saw paramedics trying to save Dennis’ life while Ian looked on in despair.
Since the incident, Sharon has depended on Ian more than ever and everyone believes the businessman to be a hero.
However, Dotty Cotton (Molly Conlin) knows the truth and has been threatening to expose Ian after discovering a chilling voicemail.
But if Ian’s involvement in Dennis’ death is exposed, will he just lose Sharon or could he be thrown in jail and lose everything?
“It is possible,” he answered. “They could be charged with involuntary manslaughter, caused by a reckless act.
“These are acts that have been performed with a blatant disregard for the dangers of a particular situation, and as a result of this act, somebody dies.”
He continued: “It would be for the prosecution to show that the actions of Ian were reckless and that they could have reasonably foreseen that some other person was at risk of physical harm because of what they did.
“For Ian, these issues would revolve around whether he knew the boat was sinking or in trouble at the time he locked Dennis in a room on the boat as well as how he acted when he realised Dennis could drown.”
