Is Ray Kelly dead in EastEnders, who killed him and how did he die?
The bigamist met a grisly end after his wedding to Mel Owen took a sinister twist
Ray Kelly’s time in Walford came to a shocking end when he was killed on what should have been his wedding night.
And blushing bride Mel Owen’s revenge plan came unravelled as she and her betrothed scuffled in the woods.
Is Ray Kelly dead in EastEnders?
Yes. Unlike Alfie Moon – who appeared to be dead after a nasty fall down the stairs on Christmas Day 2018 – Ray was shot in the chest.
He’d already been reversed over by Mel who, believing he was dead, tried to bury him.
But Ray was pulling the old Soap Land move of not really being dead at all.
He then jumped out of his shallow grave and tried to throttle Mel before a gunshot stopped him in his tracks.
He was seen clutching his chest as blood oozed from a bullet hole, while Mel looked on in horror.
Who killed Ray Kelly in EastEnders?
Ray was shot by Mel’s teenage son Hunter Owen on January 3, 2019. He fired a gun that Ray and Mel had both been seen with in earlier episodes after Ray attacked Mel and tried to kill her.
In the first of two special episodes, Mel confessed to Hunter that Ray had left her for dead after finding out she planned to expose him for bigamy.
She showed him bruises on her neck where the cheating Irishman had tried to strangle her.
A furious Hunter told his mum that if he ever saw Ray again, he would kill him.
He kept his word and saved his mum’s life.
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Why did Mel have Ray arrested on their wedding day?
Mel had discovered that Ray – who she was previously married to – had two other wives. She was horrified to discover he was married to Maddie Wright, going by the name of Simon Wright, and even had a young son with her.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Mel soon discovered that Ray had another secret wife, Nicola, who he also had children with. She was sickened to discover that he was married to Nicola during their first marriage.
Mel joined forces with Maddie and Nicole and planned to have Ray arrested for bigamy at their wedding. But her plan went wrong when Ray got wind of what she was doing and strangled her, in her wedding dress.
He left her for dead and headed to the venue, only to be stunned when he saw Mel walking down the aisle.
She then blackmailed him into marrying her before the police arrived and arrested Ray.
But the wiley ex-cop faked a heart attack in the back of the squad car before escaping and heading back to Walford, where he kidnapped Hunter after a scuffle with a kitchen knife.
Ray then told Mel he had her son and convinced her to meet him in the woods.