A couple of days ago in Emmerdale, Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) discovered a massive scratch along the side of his posh car.

Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley), Joe’s partner, believed it was probably just kids messing about, but Joe’s eyes wandered over the road, and couldn’t help but accuse one of his many enemies.

Standing outside a house as this was going on was Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle). He had just moved into a new place, and was chatting to landlord Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw).

Joe was quick to tell Dawn that Billy potentially keyed his car out of revenge. The beloved character’s marriage broke down earlier this year because Dawn was having an affair with Joe and since then, Billy hasn’t really gone out of his way to get his own back on Joe.

We’ve previously seen Billy debate hurting Joe, and he also pushed him over in his wheelchair in a moment of anger, but he’s yet to plan a grand revenge – which suggests two things.

One, Billy isn’t intending on doing this because he has respect for himself and wants to set a good example to his children or two, he’s waiting for the right moment to destroy Joe.

If it’s the first option, it certainly leaves us wondering just who damaged Joe’s car. For some fans of the ITV soap, they don’t believe it was a village resident that’s clashed with Joe in the past. In fact, they think it was Joe himself.

Audience members believe that Joe keyed his car with a deliberate plan to frame Billy. If Dawn thought Joe’s theory had legs, it would get Billy away from the family more, something Joe has wanted for ages.

In the coming episodes, Joe will face trouble when he realises someone has been in his bedroom at Home Farm. He will discover that someone has stolen his medication, and he still seems to think it’s Billy.

But with Billy seemingly focused on moving forward with his life, does that mean someone else is targeting Joe?

If so, will Joe push the narrative that it was Billy, hoping it would isolate him from the people at Home Farm altogether?