Emma Barton

Emma L. Barton is the estranged wife of James Barton and mother to Pete, Ross and Finn Barton.

2015-
Harriet helps Finn find Emma's address and he meets her in secret. She is thrilled to see him and is eager to get to know her other sons again but this proves complicated, given their history. While at a bar, Ross gets into a fight and is injured. Emma comes to help Ross and is shocked to recognize her sons. Finn invites Emma to the village and Ross tells her that James and Moira Dingle slept together before she left. James is defensive and accidentally reveals that Adam Barton is his son. Emma blames James for losing her family but he reminds her that the reason she left was because she tried to kill Ross when he was a child. Emma asks if James has told their sons the truth and he tells her he has not. Emma leaves and Pete later tells James that she returned once before, but he sent her away. Emma returns to the village and Ross and Finn try to persuade her to stay. She tries to talk to Pete but he makes it clear that he knows what she did and will not forgive her. When Finn babysits Debbie Dingle's son, Jack, Emma visits and Finn leaves her alone for a few minutes. When Pete learns this, he runs into the house and tells Emma to leave.

Emma befriends James's partner Chas Dingle, but remains hostile towards Moira. During an argument with James, Emma lashes out at him, causing a pallet to crash down on James and pin him under the load. Emma checks James to see if he is breathing and hesitates before calling an ambulance. Emma is defensive when Pete questions her about the accident but, thinking Emma saved James's life, Pete tells Emma that he will keep her secret and she can stay in the village. Relieved, she moves in with her sons after Ross "burgles" her house and then sets about ruining James's and Chas's relationship by making people think that they are having an affair. When Chas learns of this, she throws James out and he stays with Emma temporarily but this becomes permanent when she convinces him to give their marriage another chance.

After a course of interactions throughout 2015 and the majority of 2016, Emma would later discover in October that James had a one-night stand with Moira. She secretly retaliated by mentally torturing James at their new house until she finally confronts him over his kiss with Moira. After a brief argument, James knocks out Emma and makes an escape, but she later regains conscious and catches up with him in a motorway; where they confrontation ends with Emma inadvertently shoving James into Ashley Thomas's car, critically injuring him and causing Ashley to crash that subsequently creates a massive car crash. She flees from the scene and later confronts James in hospital where she blames him for ruining their marriage and comes close to ending his life for good, but ends up changing mind and instead forgives James; begging him to survive so that their tenuous relationship can be given another chance. In that moment, however, James fatally succumbs to his deteriorated condition and dies in front of his heartbroken family; devastating Emma and her sons all together. His funeral is later attended by Emma, Ross, Finn, Pete, Moira, Adam, and so much more.