EastEnders shock as Ben Mitchell makes a decision about Lewis Butler

EASTENDERS fans are in shock after Ben Mitchell let rapist Lewis Butler go.

The mechanic - who is played by actor Max Bowden in the BBC soap - discovered his dad and aunt had kidnapped rapist Lewis and went to meet them.

In last night’s episode Ben stopped his dad from murdering Lewis - insisting if anyone was going to kill him then it would be him.

However in tonight’s episode Ben made a shocking decision.

Instead of killing Lewis, he decided to let him go.

At gunpoint he forced Lewis to talk through what happened on the night where he raped him.

“Did you or did you not hear me say no?” he said to Lewis.

Holding the gun to his throat, Ben forced him to admit what he did.

“I undid your shirt and carried on,” Lewis said before crying and saying: “I raped you.”

But then as Ben further questioned him, he realised Lewis had raped other men.

Furious Ben carried on interrogating Lewis before making a decision and firing the gun.

However he didn’t shoot him - and instead let him go free.

“I just gave him a little scare,” he said as Phil and Sam ran in.

“Let’s go home then.”

Viewers couldn’t believe Ben would let Lewis go.

One wrote: "Ben did the right thing in letting Lewis go. Killing him would of not worked out well for him 😬#EastEnders."

A second said: "I knew Ben wouldn’t shoot Lewis! @BBCEastenders."

Another added: "Ben taking the moral high ground and letting him go. This is what I wanted, I didn't want Ben to kill someone cos that would have messed with his head more. It was more for his own good than Lewis' wellbeing to not pull that trigger. #EastEnders."