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Gone in 6 weeks

We were on honeymoon, but already the cracks were staring to appear...


Published by: Amy Thompson
Published on: Passports in hand, me and my fiancé Neil boarded the plane. We were jetting off to Cyprus to get married. ‘I can’t wait to be Mrs Bagnall,’ I grinned. Neil smiled back, pulling up his baggy jeans. Bless him. I’d always thought it was the bride w

Passports in hand, me and my fiancé Neil boarded the plane. We were jetting off to Cyprus to get married.
‘I can’t wait to be Mrs Bagnall,’ I grinned. Neil smiled back, pulling up his baggy jeans.
Bless him. I’d always thought it was the bride who lost weight before her big day, but in the last few months Neil had lost loads. It must be pre-wedding nerves. We’d been together just under a year, and getting married was a big step.
Neil had been my neighbour, and had always been popping over to fix things and have a chat.
We’d started dating and, within months, he’d moved in with me.
He worked as a shop assistant while I was training to be a hairdresser, so money was tight. That’s why we’d decided to combine our wedding and honeymoon, just the two of us.
At our hotel, I opened my suitcase and pulled out my swimsuit.
‘Fancy a dip before dinner?’ I beamed, turning to find Neil collapsed on the bed.
‘Maybe later,’ he yawned. ‘I’m gonna have a kip.’
‘Okay,’ I sighed, disappointed.
Never mind, I thought. There’s always tomorrow.
But, as the days passed, Neil was constantly tired. Even when I gave him the gold cufflinks I’d bought as his wedding gift, he barely thanked me before nodding off.
At first I was annoyed but, when he started breaking out in cold sweats and vomiting, I worried.
‘Probably just a touch of food poisoning,’ he groaned.
By our wedding day, he’d lost a stone, and his suit trousers were so baggy he had to wear a belt to keep them up.
What if there was something seriously wrong with him?
As soon as we got home, I insisted he went to the doctor.
‘He said loads of people suffer sickness abroad,’ Neil reported back. ‘I’ve just got to drink plenty of water.’
His advice worked. Two weeks rolled by, and Neil perked up. The cold sweats stopped, and he put on weight. So much so, he needed some new trousers.
While out buying some, I bumped into an old neighbour.
‘How was the wedding?’ Gemma asked.
‘Could have gone better,’ I admitted, filling her in on Neil’s illness.
She stared at me, puzzled.
‘You know why?’ she frowned.
‘The doctor said…’
‘You do know Neil has a drug problem?’ she said slowly.
‘What?!’ I laughed.
Her eyes widened. ‘I thought you knew,’ she gasped. ‘He’s been taking crack cocaine for months!’
I’d never heard anything so ridiculous. If my fella was on drugs, I’d know! Clearly she was jealous of us to be spreading a nasty rumour like this.
I pushed the conversation to the back of my mind.
A few days later, though, I went to get money out at a cash point when I couldn’t find my card.
‘What the hell?’ I muttered. Unless…? I called Neil.
‘Have you got my bank card?’
‘Yeah, I needed some cash,’ Neil admitted.
‘What for?’ I asked.
‘I’ll pay you back,’ he added hurriedly, ignoring my question.
Okay, now we were married it was share and share alike, but he’d taken money without asking and he wouldn’t tell me what for.
He must be hiding something.
The sudden weight loss, cold sweats, sickness – they could have been because he couldn’t get any drugs on our honeymoon.
Was he taking money from me to feed a habit?
That night, I confronted him.
‘Have you ever taken drugs?’ I asked him outright.
‘J-just once,’ he said with a shrug.
Taking a long, hard look at him – the bags under his eyes, the pale skin, gaunt face – I knew that he was lying.
‘How long?’ I asked. ‘How long have you been taking drugs?’
‘About three months,’ he sighed. ‘But it’s fine, I can…’
‘Get out!’ I spat.
It sounds harsh but Neil was my husband, we weren’t supposed to have secrets, and here I was finding out through an old neighbour that he
was on drugs. I was in love. I hadn’t suspected a thing,
but I was no mug.
Packing his stuff in bin bags, I showed him the door.
‘I can’t trust you,’ I told him, taking his key.
A few hours later, I heard a bang in the bathroom. Rushing to see what was going on, I caught Neil crawling in through the window.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ I shrieked.
He stumbled in, his eyes bulging and darting around the room.
My god! He was on something!
‘I love you Emma. I love you,’ he sobbed, tears pouring down his face.
He was in such a bad way that my heart softened. Even though I couldn’t be with a liar and drug addict, I couldn’t chuck him out
in that state either.
‘Come on,’ I said gently, trying to calm him. ‘Sleep here. We’ll talk in the morning.’
The next day, as I sorted breakfast, worrying what to do next, there was a knock at the door.
I opened it to a half a dozen police officers.
Without warning, they barged past, bellowing Neil’s name.
‘What’s going on?’ I cried out in shock.
I watched helplessly as they snapped handcuffs on him.
‘We’re arresting you on suspicion of assault,’ said an officer.
‘You’ve got the wrong person,’ I spluttered protectively.
No one would listen, though. Instead, they moved me out of my house for two days while they searched for forensic evidence.
They charged Neil with wounding with intent to cause grievous body harm.
Who on earth was he supposed to have attacked?
‘Neil’s drug dealer was found in an alley,’ an officer explained. ‘He’d been attacked with a hammer. He has fractures to his skull and a broken hand. His attacker fled thinking that he’d killed him.’
‘And you think Neil did it?’ I snorted, outraged. He was many things, but not a monster!
‘We found a couple of your belongings on the victim,’ the officer continued. ‘A camera, with wedding photos on, and a set of gold cufflinks.’
Surely, my hubby hadn’t sold our wedding memories for drugs?
‘Neil’s already confessed to it,’ the officer added gently.
I sank to the floor in tears.
‘This has to be a nightmare,’ I sobbed. My whirlwind marriage was in tatters after just six weeks.
My bloke had deceived me, taken my cash, and was now selling our prized possessions, all to fund his drug habit.
Neil Bagnall, 23, admitted the charge and was sentenced at Mold Crown Court to six years in prison.
I was devastated, and immediately filed for divorce.
For months I shut myself away, too scared to trust anyone. Seven months later, when I met Ian, 35, through a friend, I was still wary.
It’s taken a while but, two years on, I’m happy with Ian. We have a three-month-old baby Noah, and we’re getting married next April.
I started with the honeymoon from hell – hopefully, this will be
a marriage made in heaven.
Emma Holden, 36, Wrexham, Clwyd