Runaway J’can bride?
PATRICE Chambers, a Jamaican woman who married a Scottish man 33 years her senior allegedly run off and left him within 20 minutes of arriving at his Scotland home.
According to the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, the jilted man, Johnny Gannon — a British charity worker, spent £5,000 to bring his new bride to that country but was left crestfallen after she abandoned him within minutes of walking through his front door.
The Daily Mail said Gannon spent thousands arranging a visa for 24-year-old Chambers so they could live in marital bliss in his council flat in Perth, Scotland.
As soon as Patrice arrived in Perth, she sent Gannon, 57, out to buy pot noodles. When he returned she allegedly grabbed her bags and told him she was going.
She then flagged down a car and caught a train. He found out she had also run up a £500 bill on his mobile phone, Gannon said.
Gannon, who married Patrice in Jamaica early this year, believes his new wife fled to Bristol to meet a Jamaican boyfriend with whom she had organised the scheme.
“I was looking forward to spending the rest of my life with Patrice but I think she had planned all along to do this. My relationship with her wasn’t something I’d done by mail order. I’ve known her for two years and it seemed very much like the real thing to me. She has used me and I feel humiliated. I had a vision of happiness laid out. I feel like a bit of a fool,” he said.
Gannon holidays regularly in Jamaica and met Chambers there two years ago.
A friend set them up on a blind date but despite the 33-year age gap he fell in love with her after their first meeting in a romantic bar in the resort of Treasure Beach.
As the couple watched dolphins playing in the water, he believed he had found the girl of his dreams.
“She ran a little bar and I’d hang out with her there,” he said. “She was intelligent and I myself thought she had the potential to be a great life partner.
“Of course I was pinching myself over how lucky I’d been to end up with such a beautiful young woman. But the relationship was getting better over time so I wasn’t suspecting any kind of sting operation,” he said.
He heard from a friend that she had a boyfriend back in the UK but when challenged she said it was in the past.
His love for her meant that he trusted her and he continued to see her on trips to Jamaica.
In fact, it was she who first brought up the subject of marriage and a ceremony was organised on one of his trips to the country.
He had paid for her dress and hair on the big day and when he returned to Scotland worked on getting a visa for her.
In the end he sent her £700 for paperwork in Jamaica and even more money when she allegedly said it had been stolen.
This year alone he has spent more than £4,000 on her, he claimed.
Friends met the couple off the plane and they flew to Edinburgh to start their new life together but she told him she didn’t want to be with him and when he returned from shopping for her he took her to the railway station.
He has reported her to police and plans to contact the UK Border Agency and now he is considering how he will tell his mother.