Matt di Angelo to leave EastEnders

Matt di Angelo is leaving 'EastEnders'.

After his alter-ego Dean Wicks was wrongly arrested and put on trial for the murder of Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), Matt's time on the soap is set to come to an end again.

A message on the 'EastEnders' Instagram page said: "Farewell to the marvellous Matt Di Angelo AKA devious Dean Wicks. From all the cast and crew at #EastEnders… thank you, you’ll be missed!"

And, in an accompanying video, 'EastEnders' Executive producer Chris Clenshaw said: "I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Matt for giving us one of the most vile characters, one of the most hated characters in Britain and on British TV. Thank you for coming back and playing out this next chapter of Dean's story."

Matt, 37, told his colleagues: "I really, really appreciate all your work. They're long days and you're a class bunch, you really are. So, thank you for helping me and I appreciate it. Thanks very much."

He added: "It is done. He is no more. "Good riddance!", you all say.

"He's fun to play and this is an amazing place to work and I do genuinely love everyone here. Thank you for having me and until the next time?! Bye!"

Matt - whose alter-ego previously raped Linda Carter - admitted he was "surprised" by the outcome of the trial.

He told The Mirror: "There’s going to be a trial and I think the outcome of trial surprised me and it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. So hopefully that makes good TV!"

Linda, Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) make up the six who were there on the night Keanu tried to strangle Sharon before Linda stabbed him at The Queen Vic.

Kellie, whose character is an alcoholic, previously said of keeping the secret: "She has to. If Linda falls, all of the other women fall with her. I honestly don’t think that Linda will ever truly find peace for killing Keanu whilst it remains a secret, but I think the guilt of taking the other women down with her would be too much for Linda to bear. She’s also very aware that her children have already lost one parent, and she doesn’t want them to lose another. Linda has to try and remain strong but as you’ll see this week, her drinking threatens to jeopardise it all."