Emmerdale's Mackenzie Boyd dead in crossbow horror after gory John showdown

There were brutal scenes on Emmerdale on Thursday, as Mackenzie Boyd was murdered by John Sugden. John claimed his next victim in gory scenes that saw Mack shot with a bow and arrow before being hit over the head with a giant rock.

Mack had uncovered evidence that proved John was lying, and was harbouring some dark secrets. As John realised Mack was onto him it led to a confrontation, as Mack told John he knew he had killed Nate Robinson.

With John making it clear he could not let Mack get out of the situation alive, Mack ran for his life through the woods only to be caught and seemingly murdered by the villain. It comes after recent reports claimed Mack would be killed off, with actor Lawrence Robb said to be leaving the ITV soap.

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At the end of Wednesday's episode we'd seen Mack make the worrying realisation that John was hiding a huge secret. He found a scrapbook from John's army days and in it was a photo of John with a man named Ben.

But Mack already knew Ben, having met him in the shop earlier that day. He confirmed he was the removal man who had collected Nate Robinson's belongings, which the police now know was organised by Nate's killer.

Fans know John murdered Nate and disposed of his body, before making it look as though Nate had moved away. He had the belongings collected and burned them, while Ben was seemingly under the impression he was talking with Nate.

So on Wednesday he claimed to the police that he had no idea Nate was dead and had been the entire time, before identifying Owen as the man he met with to hand over the belongings. Of course this was a lie as Owen was the man John had framed for Nate's death after his own demise weeks ago.

Mack put the pieces together and realised John had killed Nate and then asked his pal Ben to pose as a removal guy to get his belongings. He worked this out via the photo, and John realised he had been rumbled.

So what ensued was a deadly chase through the woods as Mack fled for his life, with us finally seeing his flashforward scene play out. But John shot Mack with a bow and arrow in grim scenes before hunting him down.

As Mack struggled to breathe and stay alert, he begged John to let him live and promised he would stay quiet. But John said he needed to silence him, needing to cover his tracks once more.

Mack told him he wasn't a murderer, with Nate's death having been an accident, leading to John chillingly commenting that this was about survival. With that he picked up a giant rock and appeared to slam Mack over the head with it, killing him.

As the episode came to an end, John claimed he needed to get some petrol and left in his van that was covered in blood - which no one noticed. Not only that, but Mack's body was laying under a sheet in the back of the van confirming his fate.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , and Threads.