PRIDE OF BRITAIN WINNER ON
PRIDE of Britain winner Jake Coates stole the hearts of the nation by raising £142,000 for charity with wife Emmy as she was dying of cancer.
But just over a year after her death, he has hit back at claims he found love again too quickly, insisting: “Emmy wanted me to meet someone.”
The 33-year-old doctor is now living with Jenna Elsby, also 33, and her fouryear-old son Charlie.
It is a romance that sparked a backlash from Emmy’s grieving family and followers of her inspirational blog.
Emmy’s sister Sophie publicly slammed her brother-in-law for “disrespecting” her sister, who she claimed would be “heartbroken”.
But in their first interview, the new couple tell how they felt they were destined to be together.
Jake said: “It’s tough when you get messages from people close to you saying negative things.
HAPPY
“But people deal with grief in different ways and those messages were coming from a place of hurt.
“I will never personally say anything against Emmy’s family but I did feel let down. I think if I had come out and said I had a girlfriend then, now or even a year from now, it would have been a hard pill for some people to swallow.
“Emmy wanted me to be happy. She wanted me to meet someone, she told me that.”
The primary school teacher died aged 31 in June 2017, less than a year after their wedding and just 18 months after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
In February Jake announced he had abandoned plans to have their baby using her frozen embryos and a surrogate mother after two failed attempts.
Three months before that he had accepted an award for Fundraiser of the Year on behalf of Emmy at the Daily Mirror’s Pride Of Britain awards.
He continues to raise money for the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, by running marathons and it was shortly after the awards that Jenna – a marketing and communications expert – got in touch to offer her help.
They soon discovered plenty in common. Jenna grew up in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, near Jake in Monmouth.
And when Jake worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Jenna lived just a short walk away with her Australian husband and young son.
“I knew of Jake through a mutual friend at school and I wanted to help so I got in touch and offered him my marketing services,” Jenna said.
“I didn’t know much about his story because I’d been living abroad and then in my own merry hell going through a divorce with Charlie’s