Emmerdale siege: Background to siege storyline
The only son of successful haulage contractor, Richard and former schoolteacher Mary, Cameron Murray grew up on the island of Jersey. Having moved there from London at the age of 12 school reports show he struggled to fit in and ended up being expelled for numerous behavioural issues. He then had severals short term jobs until his father brought him into the family business, Murray Distribution.
Murray met semi-professional dancer, Anna in 1998, and the couple soon started a family, with son Dylan born in 2000 and younger son, Harry, following in 2003. Neighbours would describe Murray as an average, friendly guy, and a seemingly devoted father.
It is believed his marriage to Anna began to fail in 2010, when Murray started an affair with 20-year-old Transport Manager, Debbie Dingle, believed to be one of the hostages currently held by him. Despite Debbie moving back to Yorkshire in late 2010, Murray was said to have another brief affair with an unknown woman, before leaving Jersey and settling down with Debbie and her daughter in Emmerdale village in early 2011.
In 2012 Murray started an affair with Debbie’s aunt, Chastity Dingle, landlady of the local pub The Woolpack and believed to be another hostage. It was during this troubled time that Cameron began his killing spree.
To protect the news of his affair with Chastity from becoming public knowledge he killed local business man Carl King who was allegedly blackmailing Murray with mobile phone pictures and texts of him and Chastity together. However, the affair did become public knowledge soon after and Murray then moved in with Chastity.
Murray then went on to kill his friend and work colleague, Alex Moss after confessing how he had killed Carl King. This murder went undiscovered for several months.
Cameron buried Alex's body in grounds of nearby Home Farm. To keep the death secret he had to move the body when construction of a new camping site for a music festival threatened to unearth the remains. But builders eventually did discover the body and police were called in.
Murray then secretly rekindled his relationship with Debbie Dingle and this led to his third and final murder.
His third victim was Genesis Walker, Chastity’s half sister, who was driven off the road in what was initially believed to be a fatal car crash. It was later discovered that Murray had caused the accident and then on discovering Genesis to be still alive, suffocated her. Cameron had just discovered that Gennie had overheard him talking to Debbie about killing Carl and was determined to stop the truth from coming out.
Murray was finally arrested this September, when Debbie and Chastity assisted the police in a sting operation. He has since pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and was at HMP Prison Leeds awaiting sentencing. He escaped earlier this month when his prison van was held up at gunpoint. He then returned to the village with revenge on his mind.