Who Attacked Cain?

'''"Who Attacked Cain?" '''was a major storyline in Emmerdale, taking place in December 2011.

Plot
In autumn 2011, it was announced that the show's serial villain Cain Dingle would be attacked by a mystery assailant.

Six suspects to the attack were named: Other characters who were presumed suspects include: In the two-part episode aired on 8 December 2011, entitled "Judgement Day", Debbie kicked Cain out as she didn't feel safe around him. Cain later went to The Woolpack for a drink but didn't get served, insulting the attendees before he left. Cain tries to reside at Marlon Dingle’s (Mark Charnock) house for the night. Whilst on his way there, he is attacked with a crowbar by an unseen assailant. He is hospitalised and requiring brain surgery.
 * John Barton - Cain tried to end his marriage by having an affair with Moira. John was the first suspect in the investigation as he had a fight hours before he was attacked.
 * Moira Barton - Cain had an affair with Moira.
 * Jai Sharma - Cain mounted a terror campaign against Jai. Jai was the first to find Cain following the attack, but ran off after Cameron Murray (Dominic Power) caught him standing over Cain.
 * Charity Tate - Cain also tried to end Charity's relationship with Jai.
 * Amy Wyatt - Cain got Amy pregnant over a one-night stand and kept pressuring her to terminate her pregnancy, but she refused. Amy was the last person to see Cain before he was attacked.
 * Zak Dingle - Zak decides that Cain needed a lesson taught after his wrongdoings. Zak was later revealed as the attacker.
 * Holly Barton
 * Adam Barton
 * Cameron Murray
 * Chas Dingle
 * Lisa Dingle
 * Declan Macey
 * Nikhil Sharma
 * Priya Sharma
 * Debbie Dingle

John was initially arrested but later released due to lack of evidence. When Cain from his coma, he attempted to frame Jai for the attack, but was later convinced to drop the charges against him.

On 5 January 2012, Zak was revealed as his son's attacker. The storyline which saw Cain get his comeuppance proved popular with viewers and soap critics.

Background information
A viewers' poll was devised so that viewers could vote for who they thought was the culprit. John Barton was proven viewers' favourite to be unmasked as the assailant, receiving 26.3% of the vote, followed by Amy Wyatt with 19.9%, Zak Dingle with 17.3%, Moira Barton with 16.3%, Charity Sharma with 10.4% and Jai Sharma with 9.8%.