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queuing to buy it. I suppose the likes of the pipe-dreaming Darwins didn’t come along every day of the week.

MY MARRIAGE to John was ended on January 11, 2012, the day the decree absolute was declared. I have never heard from him again. He is now married to a Filipina girl and living in the Philippines.

Home for me now is a small but comfortable flat in a pretty village just a few miles from York. If my neighbours know about my past, they are kind enough not to say.

I work five days a week for the RSPCA, having first started as a volunteer while in open prison. The people at work know about my background, obviously, but they have accepted me for who I am now and not who I was.

I’m sure many people will wonder whether I really deserve a second chance. My sons decided I did, and to me that’s the only thing that matters. It means everything to me to be part of their lives once more, and to be able to know and love my four grandchildren.

Over the past decade, I have learned so much: above all, that while I need my family, I don’t need a husband. I know how obvious it will sound to some, but it took me 37 years of marriage and a six-and-ahalf-year jail sentence to discover this.

It was only after I hit rock bottom that I managed to turn my life around. But if I can do it, I believe anyone can.

ANNE DARWIN will donate proceeds from the book to the RNLI and the RSPCA. Adapted from Out Of My Depth by Anne Darwin with David Leigh, published by Mirror Books on October 6 at £8.99. © Anne Darwin with David Leigh 2016. To order a copy for £7.19 (until October 1, 2016), call 0844 571 0640 or visit mailbookshops.co.uk. P&P free on orders over £15.