MUM’S REGRET AFTER LAG DUMPS HER ON RELEASE I fell in love with killer and spent four years planning our wedding... but now I feel like such a fool
LIKE all excited brides, Amanda Galler was counting down the days to her wedding.
After 17 years together, the mum-ofthree thought she was going into the marriage with her eyes wide open.
She was well aware her fiancé Matthew Welsh had a dark past – after all, they met while he was in prison for murder after she instigated contact.
But he had such a warm smile and a twinkle in his eye that she believed “funny and charming” Matt when he insisted he was innocent, that the media had it – and him – all wrong.
And as his release date approached, and they planned their nuptials down to the smallest detail – even arranging for an owl to carry their rings – she was absolutely sure that this was the man for her.
So Amanda was completely blindsided when Welsh ghosted her as soon as he got out of prison – not answering a single call or message – and cruelly left her to find out that he had moved on to someone else.
And now she feels mortified for ever believing a murderer’s lies.
Amanda, 46, an office administrator, says: “I can’t believe that I’ve been such a fool... how I’ve been so blinded by love.
“I made a big mistake. It has completely broken me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be with someone again.”
It was 2003 when Welsh, then 19, was jailed for 20 years for leading a gang in the horrific murder of 14-year-old Adam Morrell in Loughborough, Leics.
High on drink and drugs, Welsh and his pals tortured the lad for hours before strangling and decapitating him.
Welsh got life with a minimum of 20 years for murder, while his then girlfriend Sarah Morris, 17, got four years for assault and friend Nathan Barnett, 27, was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Watching a news report on the murder at the time, Amanda was horrified. She says: “I couldn’t understand what made people like this tick.”
Intrigued by how similar they were in age – Welsh was only six years younger than she was – she began to follow the story. “I’ve seen lots of horrible stories like this before but for some reason, I couldn’t get this one out of my head.”
Amanda – used to having pen pals after making friends via Smash Hits magazine – wrote to Welsh.
She says: “I don’t know what came over me. I just genuinely wanted to be friendly. I didn’t even think I’d ever meet him. I thought he might like someone to write to because he’s young.
“He obviously has issues, and the crime was terrible.”
Three weeks later, a reply landed on her doormat. In his letter, Welsh seemed very nice and was good with words – and completely different from what Amanda had read in the papers.
They started corresponding regularly, and were soon swapping romantic letters daily, sharing photos and details of their lives.
Welsh denied being a killer and leading the gang to murder.
Amanda recalls: “He would say it’s by association and he always denied what the newspapers had said .... He told me he was scared and went upstairs in fear during the attack.”
She fell deeply in love. He called her Unicorn Queen and she named him Honey Bear, she reveals, “because Matt was sweet like honey and strong like a bear”.
After 13 years, the couple finally met in person in 2019.
Amanda says: “I had never been to a prison or anything like that and I didn’t know what to expect. Then when I walked in and I saw him I felt my heart like… fluttering.
“He had a beaming smile and a twinkle in his eye. He is quite shy in person and even though we did talk, there were a lot of silent gaps where we were just looking at each other, giggling.
“He was funny and charming. Not what I expected from a cold-blooded killer. I was blindsided and didn’t see a murderer sitting in front of me at all.”
On February 29, 2020, she took advantage of the leap year tradition of women proposing to smuggle an engagement ring into HMP Grendon, Bucks, and slide it onto Welsh’s finger.
She says: “I got a bit shy but he said yes. I couldn’t get down on one knee as I wasn’t meant to have the rings on me.”
When Welsh was transferred to HMP
He was funny and charming. Not what I expected from a cold-blooded killer at all
Sudbury, an open prison in Derbyshire, that year, Amanda, from London, moved to Burton upon Trent, Staffs, to be nearer to him.
Out for five days at a time under release on temporary licence, Welsh spent his time with Amanda.
She says: “We’d spend the days in bed together with him whispering in my ear that he wanted to marry me.
“I never gave his past a second thought – all I could see was today and that we’d now known each other for 17 years. Love had completely taken over.”
Over four years the pair planned their nuptials. “On his days out from prison we went wedding shopping,” Amanda says. “He paid for everything and he even bought his wedding suit.
“We both went to the register office and put the banns in. He also booked a horse and carriage, and a barn owl to bring the rings down the aisle.”
However, at the end of last year, a few weeks before the day of the wedding, Welsh, 40, became distant.
“We were due to be married in December,” Amanda says. “I was so excited. But then Matthew dropped a bombshell and suggested we wait until January as he wasn’t sure he’d be released from prison in time.”
Reluctantly, she agreed. A week before his release, Amanda was waiting for her fiancé’s call.
It never came. She says: “I constantly called his phone and sent messages but they were all ignored.
“I panicked, wondering what was going on. I tried to call again but his phone was always switched off, and then he changed his number.
“I was beside myself wondering what the hell was happening. I’ve never heard from him since, although I have now discovered that he is seeing a younger woman.”
Despite the red flags – a probation officer who had worried their relationship was too intense; the fact she’d felt compelled to hide her relationship from her family, telling them she was dating someone “in the armed forces” – for 17 years Amanda had refused to see that she had been in love with a cruel killer.
Now, it’s as if a fog has lifted.
She says: “It’s very upsetting, the whole situation. To be honest, I feel like he groomed and used me. I served my purpose. I supported him all those years, financially. I’ve probably given him thousands.
“Now I believe that what the newspapers said about him was true. I am disgusted. I think about if it was my son [who was murdered]. I am so sorry for the family.
“I think about them all the time. While I am heartbroken, they’re the real victims of this man.”
When her children, Molly, 23, Ellie, 22, and Scott, 19, found out the truth, they confronted her. Scott stopped speaking to her for a while, although they have since reconciled.
And as well as still having the rings, Amanda is left with an indelible reminder of her mistake
She says: “I have got tattoos all over my damn body! I have an infinity sign with our names on it on my right arm as well as a heart connected to an M a bit lower down. Also, on my chest I have an M with a heart and a heartbeat. I am stuck with the tattoos to remind me how stupid I was.”
She adds: “I wish I’d never put pen to paper. I can’t believe how I’ve been so blinded by love.
“I was manipulated by his charm and lovebombing. I really want to warn other women who think they can change these people because you can’t and you will only end up getting hurt.”
Matthew Welsh said he did not want to comment when approached by this newspaper.
I am stuck with the tattoos to remind me how stupid I was – I was blinded by my love for him