It happened to me
Liz Smith thought her husband was perfect. But he betrayed her in the most evil wayé
‘Poisoned… by the man I loved’
Some of us have a friend who’ll be there no matter what, while others rely on family. For me, the person I could always count on was my husband, David. when I became desperately unwell, he took me to hospital and held me when I was too weak to walk. I felt so lucky to have him – and yet, it turned out my perfect man was the one making me ill…
It was February 2012 when I met David. Back then, I certainly wasn’t looking for romance – when I wasn’t running my beauty salon, I spent time with my son, Michael, then 35, and his family. But when David started chatting to me in a department store I felt drawn to him. He said he owned a factory and was visiting the area on business, and then he asked if I’d join him for coffee. I was impressed, albeit slightly surprised, by his forward approach, so I accepted.
David was charming and we had so much in common – from our love of Motown, to a passion for the great outdoors. So, before saying goodbye, we exchanged emails and began talking every day. When he called me beautiful, I couldn’t help but feel that rush of excitement you get with someone special.
It wasn’t long before David and I were a couple. While he lived in Telford – 300 miles away from my home in Ayr – we saw each other most weekends.
Life felt perfect, but then, in April 2012, when I was visiting David, I started feeling ill. The only thing I’d eaten that day was a sandwich David had made me – nothing that would make me unwell. But soon, I was doubled over in pain with terrible sickness and diarrhoea. At the time, I was so embarrassed, but David told me not to worry. He brought me water and held me until I fell asleep.
Unexplained tiredness
Back home the following week, I was still tired – even my colleagues at the salon mentioned how pale I looked. And then, four days later, it was David’s turn to visit me. He let me lie in bed while he brought me cups of tea and made me dinner – he was such a good cook, whipping up rich lasagnes and chicken casseroles.
Still feeling unwell, I assumed it was just a bug that would clear up by itself, but I’d have to run to the bathroom every hour, and I’d get crippling headaches. Then, a month later, I was at the salon when I collapsed, and was rushed to hospital. I’d hoped that the doctors would be able to find out what was wrong. But after a barrage of tests, they were stumped. I was sent home with antisickness tablets, and told to get some rest.
And, while my condition worsened, my relationship with David seemed to grow stronger. One evening, feeling so low, I told David he should leave me – he deserved to be with someone who was well, who he could enjoy life with. But he refused, insisting I was his soulmate.
I stopped working, and as the months passed, I couldn’t celebrate our birthdays with a big meal out, or go to the pub on Christmas Day. But David said he didn’t care, as long as we were together.
Home to a nightmare
When he proposed in December 2014, I accepted immediately. We got married a month later. But then, one weekend in June 2015, David took me for a drive, but on our return his face went white with horror. He said he’d seen the front door
was ajar, and that there must have been a break-in. Parking around the corner, he dashed back to the house.
I sat, terrified, for at least 20 minutes until David finally returned. I’d recently taken some money out of my account and put it in a safe in my bedroom, but David said it had been forced open and was empty. Immediately, I called the police.
They started investigating and two days later officers arrived with information. Asking to speak to me alone, one of them placed a hand on my shoulder. ‘There’s no easy way to say this, but David’s the one that stole from you,’ he said.
I shook my head, convinced there must have been a mistake. But there was more. The officer explained they had found the money in David’s car. The evidence couldn’t lie – my husband wasn’t the man I thought he was. As my screams filled the room, David was arrested and taken away.
In the days that followed, I struggled to understand what had happened. David had been so loving, so kind, how could he be a thief too? But one thing seemed to improve – my health. The more time I spent apart from David, who had been convicted of stealing from me and handed 150 hours of community service, the stronger I became. My bouts of sickness and diarrhoea became less frequent, before they stopped altogether, and a month later I was back to full health.
It was my son Michael who first suggested my health problems may have been down to my estranged husband. And, the truth was, I couldn’t deny the logic. I’d fallen ill just weeks after meeting him and, now that he was out of my life, after three years of bad health, I was better again.
So, in July 2015, with shaking hands, I called David. It felt so strange hearing his voice. He’d once been the man I loved, but now, he was just a stranger. I made up a story, saying the doctors had reviewed my tests and found traces of some kind of drugs in my system. For a second there was silence, before he admitted, ‘I put laxatives in your food.’
I’ve never felt so disgusted, so betrayed. Fighting the urge to scream, I thought back over the past three years. The sickness, fatigue, it had all been needless – caused by a depraved man who had convinced me we were in love. I wanted to cry, but I was too furious. How dare he do something so evil?
Anger has a way of making you very focused, and I realised that the only way I’d come to terms with what David had done, was to see him pay for his crimes. So, I called the police, who launched an investigation. Within a few weeks he was arrested.
When David Thomas Smith appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court in January 2017, I felt so relieved when he pleaded guilty to culpably and recklessly administering laxatives to me between March 2012 and July 2015. He was sent to prison for three and a half years.
Now I’m trying to move forward with my life. I work at the salon and I spend time with friends and family. I’ll never know why David decided to hurt me in the way that he did – how he could tell me he loved me, while poisoning me at the same time. He stole my life for three years – but I won’t let him take another second.
‘I’d fallen Ill just weeks after meeting him’