MUM'S HELL: The truth SET ME FREE

Joleen was preparing for her dream wedding, when a terrible night turned her world upside down

- JOSIE O'BRIEN

Joleen Hulme, 37

As my fiancé, Paul, 48, turned to face me, we were standing just like I imagined we would on our wedding day.

When he'd proposed three months earlier, it was like a dream come true.

We'd known each other for years through family friends, but had both been in relationships.

Paul had grown-up kids of his own, while I had my children, Katie, then 13, and Harvey, 10.

At a party in late 2017, after we'd both found ourselves single, sparks started flying.

We spent the whole night chatting, and couldn't deny there was something special between us.

From then on, we were completely inseparable.

Paul treated me like a princess and I'd never been happier. So in September 2018, when he asked me to marry him, I was thrilled.

'You're my dream man,' I told him.

But now, as we stood together in our living room, Paul wasn't looking at me like he usually did.

We'd got into a silly fight over him smoking earlier that night when we had friends over.

I wasn't proud of it, but we both started shouting.

When Paul went to the kitchen, I had no idea why he was heading in there.

But as he walked back in, I saw that his face was twisted with rage. It sent a chill down my spine.

Looking at him in horror, I realised Paul had a knife in his hand.

Then he started screaming something, but my head was clouded with shock and panic so I couldn't hear him.

I could only see him yelling, his face filled with an anger I'd never seen from him before.

Before I could say anything, Paul started thumping his chest with the knife still in his hand, and I immediately realised what he'd done.