LINE Of Duty fans were bowled over by the news that mysterious DSI Joanne Davidson has criminal blood ties.
Already, viewers are coming up with theories about who the criminal could be – and one name under interrogation is Tommy Hunter. Here’s what we know about him…
Who is Line of Duty’s Tommy Hunter?
Longtime Line of Duty fans will be familiar with Tommy Hunter.
He was the first ever leader of the organised crime group back in series one.
He was a also a paedophile – you might remember him as the man who groomed Matthew ‘Dot’ Cotton as a teenager after employing him as a golf caddy.
But until now, it has been assumed that Tommy is dead. In season two, he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit of South Central Hospital after the huge ambush in season two.
But whilst he was in hospital, DC Jeremy Cole disguised as a nurse supposedly killed him by injecting air into his IV line.
In his dying moments, it is revealed that Tommy Hunter hadn’t been turned after all, and that he was still embroiled in OCG activity whilst in police protection.
In season three, it was also revealed that Tommy had been part of the sexual abuse scandal at Sands View boys home.
Tommy also has links to Ryan Pilkington, whom he recruited to steal mobile phones and work as a courier in season one.
Is he related to DSI Jo Davidson?
At the end of Sunday night’s episode, Steve Arnott and Chloe Bishop made a new discovery after examining Davidson’s DNA found at the flat of PS Farida Jatri.
In a dramatic twist, they found a criminal file with the identity of a blood relation to DSI Jo.
The explosive episode ended with DI Steve Arnott breaking the news to Superintendent Hastings.
He explained: “As we know sir, officers’ samples are stored on the system to exclude contamination of crime scenes.
“Now an officer’s DNA isn’t speculatively examined on a routine basis, it certainly wasn’t back when Davidson joined the force.
“Because the DNA deposit detected at the house were assumed to relate solely to a police officer, they were compared against the whole system.
“The analysis detected partial matches to a nominal whose DNA is stored on other police databases. It’s identified over the page.
‘As we know sir, there’s only one credible explanation for Jo Davidson’s DNA matching this individual – they’re blood relatives.”
Fans deciphered that the DNA match was male, but it has not yet been confirmed to viewers who Jo is related to.
Fans have speculated that the relative in question could by Tommy Hunter, based on the fact that both Jo and Tommy are Scottish.
He is around the same age, which makes it more likely they are close relatives within the same family.
If Davidson is a sibling of Hunter she may be being blackmailed into helping the criminals with the threat of the link being exposed.
One fan on Twitter wrote: “I reckon she’s Tommy Hunter’s daughter – both Scottish? I think she’s his daughter!”
Another said: “Jo Davidson’s blood relative? Tommy Hunter her father is my guess!.”
