From Donna Windsor to Charity and Debbie Dingle: Inside the many relationships of Ross Barton
Ross was quite the ladies’ man
Ross Barton returned to Emmerdale last night, striding back onto the scene as Billy’s opponent in an illegal bare-knuckle boxing ring. This marks an explosive return for the bad boy of the Dales, who shares a son with Charity.
Ross’s return to the village is sure to send shockwaves around those who used to know him – not least Charity, who is currently playing happy families with husband Mack Boyd.
However, Charity is just one of the many women in Ross’s chequered past. But what happened between Ross and Charity, and who else succeeded in stealing his heart?
Donna Windsor – the first woman Ross truly loved
Dodgy Ross falling for the village police officer wasn’t a match anyone could have expected, but when he fell for Donna Windsor, he fell hard. However, realising that she had secrets of her own, the pair grew close and soon became lovers.
Keeping the fact that she had lung cancer a secret from Ross, the pair worked together to rob local criminal Gary North. The pair’s relationship ended in tragedy when Donna, while handcuffed to Gary, threw herself off a building. Confessing her love to Ross before she jumped, Donna left Ross heartbroken.
Carly Hope comes to Emmerdale – and falls for Ross
In 2015, Ross began dating Carly Hope, daughter of Bob – and Donna’s step-sister. The pair dated for a while after being set up by his mother, but she dumped him after seeing the violence he inflicted upon an innocent driver while robbing a haulage truck.
What happened between Ross and Debbie Dingle?
Since arriving in the village, Ross had always had eyes for Debbie Dingle. However, she was in a relationship with his brother, Pete. It was when she got engaged to Pete that their affair began, with the pair even making a plan to run away together shortly before the wedding.
However, their plans were scuppered when dad Cain dropped a doozy of a bombshell…
Charity Dingle and the birth of Moses
At the same time, Ross had fathered a child after a one-night stand with Charity Dingle. After revealing the truth while on his brother’s stag do (such timing), he originally wanted nothing to do with his son.
However, he eventually softened, and his mother even managed to convince Emma to add his name to Moses’s birth certificate.
Meanwhile, Debbie and Ross continued to return to each other over the years, even making a go of things in spite of his fathering a child with her mother. Their relationship crumbled for the first time in 2015, when she left the village after learning that he’d shot Robert Sugden.
The pair reconciled in 2017, when Debbie returned to the village after daughter Sarah was diagnosed with cancer. It looked, for a moment, as though they would reunite for good, but ultimately decided not to for Sarah’s sake.
Kerry
In 2016, Ross bedded Kerry as part of a bet with his brother. Kerry, who had been with Dan at the time, fell pregnant with Ross’s child and had a termination.
When Dan found out he was furious and confronted Ross… only to be knocked out with one punch from the future bareknuckle boxer.
Why did Ross leave Emmerdale? Rebecca White and exit from the village
In 2017, he began sleeping with Rebecca White. They broke up after he learned she’d had a one-night stand with Robert. Following his acid attack, he and Rebecca reconciled, bonding over their shared trauma.
In 2018, he and Rebecca decided to leave the village for a new life in Liverpool. Ross initially planned on bringing Moses, but Charity stopped him from doing so after learning about his cocaine use.
Ross and Rebecca left the village that year, with promises from Charity that he’d still get regular access to Moses. What he’s been up to in recent years is unclear, but it looks as though Rebecca is no longer on the scene…
Read more: Complete Emmerdale cast list 2024
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