HE WASN’T WHO HE SAID HE WAS

Handing me a cup of tea in bed, my partner, John, then 37, climbed under the covers next to me. ‘You spoil me,’ I smiled, giving him a kiss.

It was November 2015 and John and I had only been together a few weeks. We’d met a few months earlier in our local pub, where I often volunteered as a bingo caller. He also lived directly opposite the shops I popped into almost daily. John, who was unemployed, had charmed me straight away. He was such a gentleman, and with his broad shoulders, piercing blue eyes and preened appearance, always looking smart in a suit, I found myself falling in love with him.

I hadn’t been looking for a relationship, having split up with my