could trust him. Rosemary bonds with Belle and pays for her to attend private school but Zak cuts this associate short when he learns Rosemary has been poisoning her daughter-in-law Perdita Hyde-Sinclair (Georgia Slowe). When Cain is viciously attacked in December 2011, Zak is very uncomfortable to the extent he refuses to visit him hospital. He later reveals himself to Cain as his attacker when he discovers Cain is trying to get Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson) falsely imprisoned for the crime. Zak also confesses to Lisa and prepares hand himself in, but Cain keeps his father's involvement in the attack secret, and retracts his statement against Jai. Zak's guilt weighs heavily on him and disappears for long periods of time and begins drinking heavily. He takes Samson (now Sam Hall) poaching one day and accidentally leaves his phone in the van. Lisa and Sam are frantic with worry. Zak and Samson are later found by Megan Macey (Gaynor Faye), who calls Sam and he arrives to collect Samson and warns Zak to stay away from him. A few weeks later, a scan reveals some abnormalities in Zak's body, he is referred to a consultant to have some more scans. At the appointment with the radiologist, the doctor warns Zak that in the abnormalities could be pancreatic cancer, but also could be a simple curable form of the flu. However, an appointment later reveals that Zak does not have pancreatic cancer. Zak begins to act erratically and becomes paranoid, he is told by a vet that his chickens are healthy but in his paranoia and belief that there is something wrong, he kills them. He later starts believing he has cancer again and talks to a doctor about it, the doctor tells him he does not have cancer but Zak refuses to believe it and tells his family that he has cancer. It later becomes apparent that Zak has suffered a nervous breakdown and is later sectioned. On Christmas Day 2015, Belle reveals to Lisa that she'd seen Zak having an affair with their lodger Joanie Wright (Denise Black). Lisa is heartbroken by the news, and her and Zak separate. This separation effectively severs Zak's ties to the rest of the family, who convene at Wishing Well Cottage and decide to "excommunicate" Zak from the Dingles. Zak and Joanie then move in with the biological grandmother of Joanie's adoptive grandson Kyle,