Emmerdale has withdrawn its entry for the BAFTAs Best Soap award after one of the scriptwriters was found guilty of domestic abuse.

The beloved ITV soap was hoping to win the тιтle at the ceremony in May, as well as the Continuing Drama award.

However, bosses at the channel have now withdrawn the nomination after writer Martin Fustes pleaded guilty to ᴀssaulting his girlfriend.

According to The Sun, ITV felt it was inappropriate to be included after the recent developments, as the soap has recently featured and won acclaim for a storyline about domestic abuse.

A spokesperson for ITV and Emmerdale told MailOnline: ‘ITV and Emmerdale have taken the decision to withdraw from the Soap category from this year’s awards. 

‘This is in consideration of recent news involving a member of the scriptwriting team.’

The Sun reported that BAFTA members have already been told that anyone who has voted for Emmerdale will have to recast their votes following the withdrawal. 

Emmerdale has withdrawn its entry for the BAFTAs Best Soap award after one of the scriptwriters was found guilty of domestic abuse

However, bosses at the channel have now withdrawn the nomination after writer Martin Fustes pleaded guilty to ᴀssaulting his girlfriend (pictured outside Hull Crown Court)

The top writer for Emmerdale told his partner he wanted to kill her and chop up her face, a court heard.

Martin Fustes, 47, ᴀssaulted the terrified woman and the made vile threats on January 27 after a late-night argument at their home in Beverley, East Yorkshire, where they lived with their children.

She feared she was going to die after abusive boyfriend Fustes turned nasty and began suffocating her by putting his hands over her nose and mouth and told her he wished she could be set alight and hanged from a tree.

Fustes admitted ᴀssaulting the woman, causing actual bodily harm, and an offence of intentional suffocation when he appeared before Hull Magistrates’ Court on January 31.

At his sentencing at Hull Crown Court on February 28, he was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, 150 hours unpaid work, 15 days rehabilitation and a 26-session probation service domestic abuse programme. He was also ordered to pay £2,000 compensation, £150 in costs and was given a ten-year restraining order.

Fustes has been an Emmerdale writer for at least 10 years, according to a fan page of the ITV soap, and is understood to have even penned domestic violence storylines -a key focus in the soap over the last 12 months.

An ITV spokesperson said Mr Fustes had been told he will no longer be writing for Emmerdale and that bosses are ‘shocked and appalled’ by his crimes.

Samantha Laws, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court, said Fustes and his partner had been together for around 13 years at the time and were living together with their children.

An argument had broken out and, when the couple went to bed at 10.30pm, he raised the matter again.

A spokesperson for ITV and Emmerdale told MailOnline: ‘ITV and Emmerdale have taken the decision to withdraw from the Soap category from this year’s awards

Read More Emmerdale writer ‘told partner he wanted to kill her and chop up her face’, court hears

Fustes had been abusive and disparaging and had prodded her in the face and upper body with his fingers, keys and a vape before spitting in her face.

He put both hands around her neck two or three times and blocked her from leaving the bedroom.

Fustes wrapped a dressing gown hood around her neck and pulled her back to the bed.

Miss Laws told the court: ‘He was repeatedly shoving and pushing her back to the bed.

‘She attempted to escape. He placed his hands over her mouth and nose and stopped her ability to breathe. She could see stars.’

Later on, Fustes grabbed her mobile phone from her, pulled off her watch and told her that he wanted to kill her and to chop up her face.

He told her that he wished she was hanging from a tree after being set alight.

‘She was able to escape through the front door of the house,’ said Miss Laws.

She continued: ‘She began to run to the local police station but he quickly caught up with her and pleaded with her to return. She did return home.’

Samantha Laws, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court (pictured), said Fustes and his partner had been together for around 13 years at the time and were living together with their children

There was further abuse and arguing until Fustes allowed her to go to sleep at about 3am.

The woman claimed in court that the incident was the culmination of more than a decade of abuse.

She was ‘distraught and sickened’ by the verbal abuse and said of the suffocation: ‘I thought I was going to die. I had no other option but to escape and run down the street.

‘I struggle to feel safe in my home. I can’t help but relive the incident, often as nightmares. The disruption he has caused in our lives has been significant. I started to feel relieved to be free of often daily abuse.’

Connor Stuart, mitigating, said it was deeply unpleasant offending but Fustes had no previous convictions and he had shown some degree of insight.

‘It’s a serious but isolated incident,’ said Mr Stuart. ‘He understands that it is over. This relationship is concluded. He has shown genuine remorse. This is the last time that he will trouble these courts.’

A statement from an ITV spokesperson said: ‘We were shocked and appalled to learn about the recent court case involving Emmerdale writer Martin Fustes. Mr Fustes is a freelance writer and he has been informed that he will no longer be writing for Emmerdale.

‘Everyone at ITV and Emmerdale abhors domestic abuse, which is why we have been highlighting the issue in a major storyline over the last 12 months. The Emmerdale production team were not aware of these charges against Mr Fustes until we were alerted over the weekend.’