Emmerdale writers considered keeping killer Meena on soap after dark crimes

Emmerdale serial killer Meena Jutla is confirmed to be leaving the ITV soap, as she finally faces her comeuppance over her dark crimes.

But if the soap's writers had had their way, she may have stayed on the show for much longer.

They were keen to keep her as a character amid the huge storyline, but realised she'd committed just too many crimes for it to be justifiable.

In fact, Sharon Marshall told This Morning on Tuesday that Meena had committed a whopping 25 crimes during her time in the village.

While they heavily considered finding a way to make it so Meena could remain in the village, they soon realised it just wasn't plausible.

Emmerdale serial killer Meena Jutla is confirmed to be leaving the ITV soap (ITV)

She did not specify whether they meant after her crimes had been exposed, or if the crimes had been kept a secret for longer.

Speaking to hosts Josie Gibson and Phillip Schofield, Sharon said: "We do look at serial killers and go, is there a way to keep them in?

"Can people get away with it? So we said look, is there a way legally that she could go through this if she pleads a certain way, and the research team read out 25 counts of illegal activity she'd done just on-screen, that we knew about.

Emmerdale writer Sharon Marshall confessed the team weighed up how they could keep Meena Jutla on the ITV soap (ITV)

"Probably more off-screen. So she's broken the law 25 times... probably not."

It comes amid fans calling for the plot to ends for months, despite many viewers loving the killer and her antics.

She was finally exposed to the village for having killed Nadine, Andrea Tate, Leanna Cavanagh and Ben Tucker in January, before her arrest in February this year.

She was finally exposed to the village for having killed Nadine, Andrea Tate, Leanna Cavanagh and Ben Tucker (ITV)

Other crimes include the attempted murders of Manpreet Sharma, Victoria Sugden and Vinny Dingle, as well as the attacks on Leyla Harding and Harriet Finch.

She also kidnapped and threatened to kill Dawn Taylor and Billy Fletcher, while the police are unaware she also plotted to kill Priya Sharma.

Meena takes to the stand in court this week for her plea hearing, but will she finally face up to her crimes?

Got any theories or thoughts on the storyline? Let us know in the comments section below

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.