EastEnders' Ben Mitchell is risking following his dad Phil Mitchell to prison - after confessing to a string of secret crimes.
Sharon Watts was devastated when she found Ben - who is played by Max Bowden - attacking a man, who she later found out had hurled homophobic abuse the night before. Ben had set upon the man after witnessing him verbally abusing his friend for his sexuality when he was out on a stag do with his pals, as it bought flashbacks for Ben after the death of his ex Paul.
Ben has been struggling to cope after his husband Callum announced he would be taking up the police's offer to front a campaign encouraging people from the LGBTQ+ community to join the police force.
Callum had been coming home from work, explaining there had been a string of attacks as of late on men for seemingly no reason - but little did he know that Ben has been behind the savage attacks.
When Sharon saw Ben brandishing a copper pipe as he leant over the man, she quickly got him to disappear before she called the police, with Callum and the rest of his team soon arriving.
As she was asked if she saw who had done it, she lied and insisted she didn't know.
However, she later headed to see Ben, hitting out at him for his actions and fuming at him for making her lie to Callum about the perpetrator's identity, as she quizzed him on why he would do such a thing.
"Because I was weak," he told her, "I was weak when they attacked Paul, I was weak when they attacked Callum. But never again. Because I ain't gonna give any of them a chance. You saw that guy in the alley, do you think he's going to start shouting in the streets at strangers any time soon? I feel pretty safe now that I'm taking out these scumbags."
Sharon warned him: "This is not the way Ben, you need help," as he laughed in her face at the idea.
"I'm not going to stop Sharon, so if you want to report me, be my guest," he told her, as she insisted she wouldn't tell the police - but only if he stopped it. "If you carry on like this, you'll be in a cell next to your dad. And with your record, you'll never get out."
*EastEnders airs Monday through Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC1.
