Emmerdale viewers were left devastated after a beloved villager was murdered in twisted New Year's Day scenes.

New Year's Day saw a chilling start to 2026 in the village, with two characters seemingly having met their maker.

Having racked up enemies in the village, evil Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffith) resolved to cut her losses and move on.

In particular, she decided victims April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) needed to be silenced for good.

She ordered her son Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) to kill April but was furious to learn he had let the teenager go free instead.

Celia fumed: 'This is Laurel, that dull dried up girlfriend of yours. She doesn’t love you. How could anyone love you?'

The twisted villain then reminded Ray of his own traumatic past, including his birth mother giving him up and his grandfather handing him to Celia.

However, Ray fired back: 'You can say what you want but Bear is not going to die.'

In a horrifying twist, Celia revealed she had already killed Bear as Ray was supposed to be murdering April.

She explained: 'No, you’re right, Bear is not going to die because he is already dead.

'I know you’d like me to tell you it was painless but it wasn’t. It was slow. 

'I watched him gasping for breath as he begged me to help him. You see, at least one of us still has the stomach for this game.'

Reacting to the news of Bear's fate, one viewer penned on X: 'So is that Bear dead then?'

Another said: 'Noooooooooooo, has Celia really killed Bear?'

A third said: 'If bear actually died off screen I swear also we were robbed of laurel’s reaction to the truth about Ray like wtf #emmerdale.'

While a fourth remarked: 'Is bear actually dead?? Celia didn’t seem like the type to lie about offing people #Emmerdale'

After being told about Bear, Ray started crying and became visibly emotional as Celia continued to belittle him.

Later on, Ray proved to be the one who ended Celia's reign of terror for good - as he stabbed her.

Despite her life imminently coming to an end, Celia told Ray: 'I'm proud of you' before slumping to the floor.

It comes as the ITV soap has been tackling a harrowing modern slavery storyline, with Bear front and centre in it.

Joshua Richards, who plays the role, previously revealed how he'd spoken to the Salvation Army and met people who had found themselves in similar situations as part of his preparation for the role.

He warned viewers: 'A lot of people say, well, I'd never be scanned, for instance, online. But so many people are and they are intelligent and bright.

'And that is what we've got to be aware of in this modern-day society. That there are people out there who can show you a bit of kindness, and then they will exploit you for it, and it does happen, and it's happening now…'

The actor described the soap's treatment of the modern slavery storyline as 'outstanding'.

He said: 'Modern slavery is alive and well, and it's horrifying. I think it was very brave for people for them to bring this subject forward and I'm intensely proud of what we, as a team, have done.

'It was a huge collaboration and this is a subject that most of the time is brushed under the carpet. But they brought it to the forefront of our minds.'

When asked if it was Bear's battle with depression that enabled him to fall victim to modern slavery, despite his physique, Joshua admitted that this likely was the case.

He said: 'After talking to my sister in great depth, who's been watching this storyline, it put her in mind of my late father, who, in his later years, actually did suffer a similar kind of depression.

'I have seen this first hand, and I do know what can actually happen to somebody who, for all of their life, was a leader, and an intensely physically strong man, to be reduced to somebody who could be just shoved from pillar to post quite easily.'

Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.