Found after 25 years on the run, paedophile who stole my wife... and my identity
A FATHER told last night of his anguish and betrayal after discovering a friend had stolen his wife and his identity... and vanished for 25 years.
Martyn Foster was left to bring up his two young children alone when his wife Susan went missing in 1988.
The trail remained cold until police took a second look at the missing persons inquiry two years ago and traced Mrs Foster 150 miles away in Kent – where she was living with Mr Foster’s former friend Michael Evans, a wanted paedophile.
At the time his wife had gone missing, Mr Foster did not realise his friend had also vanished. But he began to wonder whether they could be together and his suspicions were confirmed in 2007 when he found out by chance Evans had applied for a passport in his name.
Yesterday, Mr Foster spoke of his ordeal after Evans was finally convicted of the historical sex offences for which he had fled justice.
Mr Foster, 59, said: ‘In all those years I never once heard from my wife and neither did my children. We had no idea where she was.
‘All I could do was get on with my life, which was very difficult with two children under six.’
Evans – then known as Michael Kime – fled with Susan in May 1988, three weeks before he was due to stand trial for ten child sex offences. The pair, both now 61, changed their surnames by deed poll to Evans. Mr Foster, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, told how officials missed an opportunity to bring the couple to justice seven years ago.
By then, long after suspecting the pair were together, Mr Foster had remarried for a second time. He applied for a passport to go on holi-
‘I hope they have a
nice time in jail’
day with third wife Carole, 63, but was told a document had already been issued in his name.
When officials printed off a picture of the man who obtained the passport, Mr Foster confirmed it was Evans. But it appears Passport Office officials failed to report the matter to police, allowing the couple to remain on the run. Lincoln Crown Court heard last month how Evans – who had abandoned a girlfriend and daughter when he fled – worked on farms in Kent picking fruit.
He used Mr Foster’s birth and marriage certificates to obtain a passport to travel to Crete to pick olives. He later also obtained a driving licence in Mr Foster’s name.
Mr Foster heard nothing about his former wife until a cold case review tracked her to Margate in 2012.
Evans was formally arrested the following year. He stood trial for the historical sex offences last month, after the pair had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice from 1988 to December 2013. They will be sentenced next month.
After Evans was arrested, his victim made a fresh statement detailing how she was abused by him from the age of eight. Mr Foster believes his wife met Evans while working at a bar, but said he had no inkling they were having an affair.
He said: ‘One night Susan told me she was going to a party. We had a babysitter as I was going out to the pub. When I came home she wasn’t back. The next morning I realised some of her clothes were gone. Whatever Evans has done, she has gone along with him for the last 25 years. I hope they have a nice time in jail.’
Evans’s daughter described her father as a ‘complete monster’.
Toni Charlton, 30, said: ‘I was five when he went missing. All I can remember is he put on his big boots and was gone. All I would want would be to ask why. Why did you walk out on us, why did you abuse your victim? He is a bad, bad man.’