MY FIANCE WAS A FESTIVE FAKE

Coleen Greenwood, 50, was taken in by a scammer at Christmas – but this was no ordinary fraud

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When I walked into our front room on Christmas Eve 2015, the atmosphere was electric. Waiting for me was James, the heroic fireman I'd fallen in love with, and my daughters Laura and Katie, then both in their early teens. Perched in the Christmas tree was a book entitled Coleen Scott's Wedding Diary, and inside was every detail of the wedding James had secretly planned, from cake tasting to the honeymoon. On the page for 17 December 2016, he had written: ‘12pm at Wynyard Hall - marry me?’

That magical moment seems dreamlike now. I was soon to learn that the man I loved was a complete fake. James wasn’t even his real name.

I first heard of James Scott in September 2014, when ‘Firefighter J likes you’ popped up on a dating site. My 17-year marriage had ended amicably a couple of years earlier, and I was dipping my toe into the dating scene. I wasn’t looking for anything serious, but James soon won me over. A divorced fireman with a sunny personality, he was devoted to his two young daughters. We started dating; most days, flowers would turn up at work. My twin sister Karen teased me. But I was falling for him.

James would appear in his fireman’s uniform, reeking of smoke, and regale me with stories. He'd once injured his back jumping from a building to save a little boy, and gave me a ‘thank you’ card the boy had written, which I kept.

Everyone loved James. But when I fell pregnant, six months into our relationship, I had a termination. It was heartbreaking, but too soon. A few weeks later, James announced he was having a vasectomy for the sake of our relationship. To say I was in shock when I fell pregnant again would be an understatement. James described the baby as ‘our little miracle’, and I couldn't go through another abortion.

A SURPRISE PROPOSAL