The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.

Emmerdale’s modern day slavery storyline has just taken a truly horrific and devastating turn, as trafficked woman and victim Anya (Alia Al-Shabibi) has died.

Anya made her arrival to the village via the back of one of Caleb Miligan’s (William Ash) trucks.

When Caleb first laid his eyes on Anya, he realised with horror that she was a stowaway. Ruby Miligan (Beth Cordingly) then arrived and immediately set about helping Anya, who was in a terrible condition.

Caleb struggled with Ruby’s determination to give the young woman food, water and a comfortable bed, because he knew how bad it would look if the police found her in their home. Ruby didn’t care about this, because all she saw was a woman who needed help.

Anya disappeared from Mill Cottage a few days later. It left Caleb and Ruby hoping that she’d eventually make it to somewhere safe, but we then learnt that sadly hadn’t been the case.

Anya had been found by Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and thrown into the boot of his car. He then drove to Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) farm, and explained that Anya had tried to run away.

Fellow slave Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) has worked hard to protect Anya on the farm. Her injuries and general ill health has meant she hasn’t completed as much work as the other adults, but Bear has tried to shield her from any consequences brought on by Celia and Ray.

In today’s instalment, Bear continued to urge Ray to get some medicine for Anya. Taking her to the hospital wasn’t an option because she’s an illegal immigrant, so it was up to Ray to get the drugs for her – but he didn’t really care enough.

Ray has been busy running about keeping an eye on April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan), Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) and flirting with Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), not to mention doing the hundreds of jobs his mum assigns him.

Ray had yet another problem to deal with when Kim Tate (Claire King) arrived to inspect the premises. Celia rents the land from Kim, which means she’s within her right to announce an inspection.

Celia pointed out to Kim that she needed to give at least 24 hours written notice in the hope it would buy her some time, but she turned up anyway, forcing Ray into the attic to try and keep the slaves quiet.

It was at this point Ray became aware that Anya really wasn’t doing well at all. Once Kim had gone, Ray told Celia that they needed to get drugs for the ‘rotting girl’. He eventually did – but it was too late.

When Ray returned to the attic with the drugs, he learnt from Bear that Anya did not survive her infection and died.

Next week, Bear’s anger will grow as he discovers Ray has hidden Anya’s body in the feed shed.

He is adamant that she needs a proper funeral, but gets another dark and grim surprise when Ray and Celia announce that he needs to dig Anya’s grave on Moira Dingle’s (Natalie J Robb) land, and bury her there.