Jailed after wedding night flop
My new hubby was hiding something darker than I ever could have imagined
Coming home to an empty house, I felt a familiar sense of despair sweep over me.
Until recently, I’d been married for 13 years, with two wonderful kids and a job. Had reckoned my life was complete, my future mapped out before me.
But in 2007, my marriage had broken down and I’d found myself single.
It took a long time to get the old Michelle back.
Finally, now, in 2011, I’d found my feet again.
And I started thinking how it would be nice to have a man about the house again.
Talking to an old friend, I said, ‘What’s all this online dating about, eh?’
‘I know,’ she laughed. ‘It’s a world away from meeting someone in the pub.’
I found the maze of social media and endless dating apps daunting.
At the same time, it was exciting, too.
Dipping my toe in, I went on a couple of dates. And it made me realise something.
I wasn’t just looking for a bit of fun. I wanted true love.
One chilly January night in 2012, I was in a local bar with my friends.
‘He’s hot,’ my friend giggled, pointing towards a dark, handsome guy.
As the drinks flowed, I found myself making eye contact with him.
Dancing to the thumping music, I shimmied over.
‘You look like Robert De Niro,’ I laughed.
He smiled and raised his eyebrows, flattered.
‘I’m James,’ he said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
My heart skipped a beat.
Chatting above the noise, I realised we had a lot in common.
And even better, James, 52, was single.
I told him I was a mum of two.
‘Ooh, I’m not that keen on children,’ he laughed.
‘Easy,’ I joked. ‘We’ve only just met!’
At the end of the night, we exchanged numbers.
Over the next few weeks, James wined and dined me. We were both smitten. But while our hearts leapt ahead, things in the bedroom stalled. James didn’t seem that interested. But I wasn’t fussed. It was just nice getting to know him properly.
When I introduced him to my teenage kids, they loved him and, despite his early teasing, he was great with them, too.
Soon, I was certain that James and I had a future together, moving him in.
We eventually did the deed, but James seemed tense.
So what if we’re not swinging from the chandeliers, I thought. We’re not teenagers any more.
I had a good man who loved me, that’s what mattered most.
So just four months later, we jetted off to the Greek island of Zante to tie the knot.
After swapping vows and celebrating with champagne on the beach, we returned to our honeymoon suite.
Only James was so tense, couldn’t relax. The sex was a let-down. Back home, I tried raising the issue...
‘Do we have to talk about this?’ he moaned, sulking off.
Even worse, gone was the handsome charmer that I’d met in the bar.
In his place was a lazy, argumentative slob.
Instead of paying attention to his new wife, James spent every spare second on his laptop or phone.
After yet another night of him glued to his screen...
‘What are you doing on
I wasn’t looking for a bit of fun. I wanted true love
that thing?’ I huffed.
‘Just on Facebook,’ he shrugged, twisting the laptop screen round to me.
Over time, we could hardly talk without arguing.
With our sex life now non-existent, I felt more like a widow than a wife. Widowed by his phone... By January 2016, I could only draw one conclusion.
‘He’s having an affair,’ I sobbed to a friend.
‘You don’t know that,’ she soothed.
She was right. But what other explanation did I have?
I realised then that I simply had to know the truth.
But how?
My chance finally came when James upgraded his mobile phone.
While he was at work, I fished out his old mobile and switched it on.
Would I find saucy messages from another woman?
As the messages loaded, my heart raced.
Hundreds of them...all describing sexual acts. Dozens of calls from unknown numbers, too.
I couldn’t believe it.
That rat!
Later, I clicked into the camera roll to check his photos.
Scrolling through, my stomach lurched.
The pictures were sexual but they weren’t of adults – these were children. Horrific abuse. Some of them just babies. I began to sob as things clicked into place.
The hours James had spent on the computer ... refusing to be intimate...
When James came home, I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. To label him for what he was.
A man with sick, twisted desires.
I struggled to sleep, seeing those disgusting images every time I closed my eyes.
Those poor kids, I thought.
In the end, I confided in my mum. ‘You must go to the police,’ she said. ‘I know,’ I sighed. Handing over the phone to officers at Swansea police station, I told them everything.
They arrested James later the same day.
When I finally went home, I saw our wedding photo on the mantelpiece.
Who was that man I’d once exchanged vows with?
I knew I never wanted to see him again.
In February 2018, James Wright appeared at Swansea Crown Court.
He admitted three counts of making and three counts of distributing indecent photographs of children, and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images.
He’d sent 205 images via text and Skype to other sick people.
The court heard that some of the images were ‘extremely graphic’, with 99 rated category A – the most serious.
Some babies were as young as 3 months old.
Wright admitted to officers that he got sexual gratification from the images.
Hearing the overwhelming evidence, it felt like they were talking about a stranger.
Not the man I’d once loved and trusted.
Wright was sentenced to two years in prison, given a sexual offences prevention order and told to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.
The judge said Wright had ‘peddled the misery of real children’.
It broke my heart thinking of the victims in those images.
When people asked what had happened to my husband, I had to tell them that he was a paedophile. I felt like such a fool. Why hadn’t I seen him for what he truly was?
Now I know he pulled the wool over my eyes.
I didn’t marry a charmer, I married a skilled liar.
A man with a rotten core.
I was beginning to feel more like a widow than a wife