Sarah Sugden Jr.

Sarah Charity Sugden (née Dingle) is the daughter of Andy Sugden and Debbie Dingle and sister of Jack Sugden.

2005: Birth and leaving with Emily
15 year old Debbie discovered that she was pregnant in January 2005 after her family stopped her seeing boyfriend Andy. She hid the pregnancy from everyone, except Andy's brother Daz Eden, who only discovered Debbie was pregnant days before she gave birth. Daz tried to persuade Debbie to see the new doctor, Adam Forsythe, but she didn't go through with the appointment. Debbie planned to abandon the baby at the hospital, so it could be adopted by a nice family. She gave birth to a baby daughter in Seth's hide whilst Daz went to get help from Emily Kirk and the doctor. The baby stopped moving and turned blue just after she was born but Emily managed to warm her up and got her breathing again. Adam checked Debbie and the baby over and took them to Emily's house where he broke the news to Debbie's family that she had given birth. They were shocked but vowed to look after Debbie and the baby. Debbie's father Cain was shocked to discover that he was a grandfather but soon came round and bonded with the baby. Debbie decided to name the baby Sarah Charity after Andy's late adoptive mother Sarah and her own mother Charity. Andy's family were not happy with the baby being called Sarah, especially his brother Robert, who was furious that Andy would name his daughter after the woman who's death he was responsible for. Debbie and Andy re-started their relationship and tried to be a family but Andy didn't want to be with Debbie. When Sarah was barely a month old Andy and Debbie split up. Debbie considered putting Sarah up for adoption but the family managed to change her mind and Emily moved in with the Dingle's at Wishing Well Cottage to help Debbie with Sarah. Debbie soon began a relationship with Robert who persuaded Debbie to take Sarah and come with him to London, although he really only wanted to take Sarah away from Andy, leaving Debbie heart-broken. Debbie struggled with juggling Sarah and being a teenager and often left Sarah with Emily, Lisa or Cain. Sarah was christened was in St. Mary's Church in December 2005 with Daz and Emily as her god-parents. Debbie handed Sarah over to Emily after the christening who took her and left the village. The Dingle's and Sugden's were furious with Debbie for giving Sarah away. Cain tried to find Emily and baby Sarah and bring Sarah home but he couldn't.

2006-2010: Return to the village and custody battle
In October 2006, Emily took Sarah back to the village and left her on Andy's doorstep after curate Ethan Blake managed to persuade her that Sarah should be with her dad. Debbie agreed that Andy should have custody of their daughter as long as she was not part of Sarah's life. Andy and his wife Katie split up in January 2007 after Andy's affair with Jo Stiles was revealed, the same month Andy's biological father Billy Hopwood was shocked to discover that he was a grandfather although Andy barred him from seeing Sarah. Andy remained suspicious of Emily, and in July 2007, he was furious when he found out that she had got a job at Sarah’s nursery. She didn't take the job after seeing the animosity that Andy had caused against her amongst the other parents. In October 2007, Lisa tried to get Debbie to be part of Sarah's life after making sure they spent an afternoon together, however Debbie refused and said she would be happy to allow Jo to adopt her but she couldn't bring herself to sign the adoption papers. In January 2008, Andy was sent to prison, and Jo looked after Sarah and allowed Debbie to start seeing her. Andy was furious to realise that Jo has been allowing Debbie see Sarah and hit her, which began months of violence which caused Jo to end up in hospital on two occasions. Sarah could sense the problems at home and was suspended from nursery after biting another child. Jo confided in Debbie about the abuse, which caused Andy to move out of Butler's Farm, although Andy is allowed supervised access to Sarah.

Jo left the village in December 2008 and reluctantly left Sarah at the Dingles. The Dingle's barred Andy from seeing Sarah and they tried to persuade Debbie to get custody of Sarah, but she refused, as unknown to everyone else Debbie was worried about being arrested for her part in the cover up of the murder of police officer Shane Doyle. Debbie was arrested in January 2009. The Dingle's allowed Sarah to stay at Andy's house after his adoptive father Jack Sugden's funeral. The Dingle's banned Andy from any access to Sarah after Andy told the police of Cain return to the country after he was arrested at the airport. The Dingle's were forced to give Andy custody of Sarah as Debbie was in prison. After Debbie was released from prison she wanted visitation access to Sarah but Andy denied her any contact with Sarah which caused Debbie to apply for full custody of their daughter. Andy tried to run to Spain with Sarah, as he was afraid of losing her, but Debbie managed to stop him and a few days later Debbie was awarded full custody of their daughter after Andy withdrew his application due to Jo's statement about Andy's violence towards her. In March 2010, Debbie decided to move to Jersey and took Sarah with her. They returned in November of the same year.

2011-2012: Illness
In 2011, Andy's girlfriend Alicia Gallagher got Sarah's ear pierced behind Debbie's back. Andy was not particularity impressed but Debbie was furious that Alicia did it behind her back. Not long after Debbie and Andy began to worry that there was something wrong with Sarah after she complained of feeling tired and bruised easily. Debbie was worried that someone was hurting Sarah and even questioned her own boyfriend Cameron Murray. Debbie booked a doctors appointment and after months of tests it was revealed that Sarah was suffering from a rare genetic disease Fanconi anemia and needed a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Debbie and Andy and all of Sarah's relatives had tests to see if they were a match for the transplant, but none of them were matches. They then set up a test centre in the Village Hall and many of the local villagers got tested but again none of them were matches. Debbie and Andy eventually found a match but sadly the donor pulled out at the last minute. Debbie and Andy decided that the only way to save their daughter was to have a saviour sibling. Neither Cameron nor Alicia were happy but they decided to ahead with it anyway. After Debbie and Andy are turned down for IFV, they began artificial insemination to try to get Debbie pregnant. After Debbie wasn't pregnant after months of artificial insemination, she decided that the only way she could get pregnant was to do it the natural way. In late January 2012 Debbie discovered that she was pregnant. Alicia told Sarah that Debbie was pregnant, which upset Debbie as they didn't know whether or not the baby was a match for Sarah yet. The test revealed that the baby was a match. In July 2012 Debbie and Cameron got engaged but in September, Sarah took a turn for the worst whilst Cameron was looking after her. At the hospital Debbie and Andy were told that Sarah was fast developing leukemia so Debbie demanded that she be induced. The doctors told Debbie that it was not safe enough for Sarah or baby to be born early for him to be born early. On the day that Debbie was to be induced, she went into labour. Sarah became a big sister after Debbie gave birth to a baby boy on 17th October 2012, who Debbie and Andy named Jack, after Andy's late adoptive father. The day after Jack was born Debbie discovered that Cameron had been cheating on her with her aunt Chas, and ended their relationship. The doctors were able to transplant the bone marrow from Jack and the following month Sarah had her transplant. After spending nearly a month in isolation in hospital, Sarah was allowed home and her family threw her a party.

2013-2015:
In the following months Debbie threw herself into work, determined to provide a better future for herself, Sarah and Jack, and often left Sarah and Jack with Andy's new girlfriend Kerry Wyatt, which Kerry was not particularly happy with. Kerry left Sarah and Jack alone whilst babysitting,and her daughter Amy Wyatt told Andy and Debbie this, but Kerry managed to persuade Sarah to say that Amy was lying. In May 2013, Debbie left Sarah and Jack with Kerry again but Kerry became drunk and accidentally set fire to the house. Sarah managed to get out of the house and walked into the pub in her pyjamas. Cain and Andy rescued Jack and Kerry from the house. In June 2013, Sarah told her tutor about all the problems at home and the tutor phoned social services. Debbie was furious and questioned her family about who called social services at Sarah's birthday party. After a visit from a social worker Sarah told her that she told the tutor about the problems at home and Debbie realised that it was the tutor who reported her. Andy took Sarah and Jack to live with him whilst Debbie got herself sorted and even threatened to go for full custody of their children. Andy banned Debbie from attending Sarah's school recital but after Debbie persuaded Andy's step-mother Diane to let her see her children for five minutes. Debbie took the children to the airport and planned to run away to Palma, as she was scared of losing Sarah and Jack forever. Cameron stopped Debbie at the airport and took them home. Andy kept the Sarah and Jack's passports but allowed them to go back to living at Tug Ghyll with Debbie. Debbie and Cameron re-start their relationship but Debbie soon discovered that Cameron had murdered her cousin Gennie Walker as well as Alex Moss and Carl King. Debbie got Andy to take the children for a few days whilst she wore a wire so she could get Cameron to confess to the murders, and subsequently he was arrested. Andy was furious with Debbie for potentially putting Sarah and Jack in harms way. In October 2013, Cameron escaped whilst he was being transferred between prisons. Sarah wandered off whilst Zak Dingle was looking after her at Butler's Farm. Cameron locked Sarah in a barn and told her to count to 1,000, by which time he would be back with Debbie and Jack. Andy and Moira found Sarah in the barn and she told them that Cameron was the one who locked her in. Cameron then took the pub hostage, with Debbie and Jack inside. Debbie only just managed to escaped the pub before Cameron electrocuted himself.

Debbie could not stand living in Tug Ghyll with all the bad memories so she bought Mulberry Cottage, and she Sarah and Jack moved in. Debbie began a relationship with farmer Pete Barton, who both Sarah and Jack liked. Pete moved into Mulberry Cottage. In June 2015, Charity had a baby whilst in prison and signed the parental rights over to Debbie, and he moved into Mulberry Cottage. Sarah was unhappy that there would be another boy in the house but Pete managed to win her round by suggesting that she could boss him about. Sarah was a bridesmaid when Debbie and Pete got married. Belle Dingle took Sarah and Jack home during the reception, just before a helicopter came crashing into the Village Hall where the reception was taking place. Debbie was pulled from the rubble, and after a few days in hospital, was allowed to come home. A few days after Debbie was released from the hospital, she threw Pete out of the house after discovering he thought he murdered his brother Ross Barton and covered it up.

After Debbie throws out Pete, Cain makes her see that her relationship choices also have an affect on Sarah and Jack so Debbie vows to put her children first. Debbie reluctantly lets Pete say goodbye to Sarah and Jack, but he mentions Sarah's cough that she has had for a few weeks to Debbie. Debbie takes Sarah to Dr Bailey's surgery later that day. Dr Bailey takes bloods due to Sarah's previous ill health. The blood results come back normal, although Pete's mother Emma Barton manipulates the results to get back at Debbie. Dr Bailey calls Debbie in to tell her the results and books Sarah in at the hospital later that day where more bloods are taken. The following day the consultant tells a relieved Debbie and Andy that Sarah is not ill again and was still in remission.

A few days later Sarah is scared when she witnesses Andy beating up Robert and is scared of how angry Andy is. Pete finds her upset in the street and takes her home to Debbie.