Broadchurch Finale: 12 Questions That Still Need Answering

7. What About The Text Messages Tom Deleted?

Though it wasn't explicitly investigated, it was fairly simple to join the dots together and assume that Tom was abused by Joe (if he was indeed the killer and a sex offender). That might explain why the boy seemed so haunted. But if that was the case, why not say it? The show didn't shy away from anything else as harsh, and it could have at least explained why Tom was seen to be deleting text messages and getting rid of his laptop. Now, without that spelled out, it looks like Tom has something to hide. Which again feeds in to the pertinent theory that Joe was covering for him.