Mr Wrong

'I had been living and working in Clapham, south London, for several months, looking after two children aged six months and three. It was a live-in job but because my employers' house was being renovated I was given my own flat across the road for the time being. I was happy in my work and enjoying a good social life.

'One night at the end of last year another nanny took me along to a pub to introduce me to a friend of hers who worked there as a barman. She had known this man for about two years and said how nice he was, so nice, in fact, that she had often invited him to spend time with her family, including her own children. I thought he was nice, too, and was really pleased when he asked me out. We went out about five times and I liked him a lot. In fact, I thought he was the nicest bloke I had ever met and he treated me like a princess, even though I knew he didn't have much money. We had several meals out and went Christmas shopping together. He had no plans to go to his home in Ireland for the holiday and I thought it was perhaps because he couldn't afford the fare. In fact I offered to loan him some money, but he said he didn't want to go home because he didn't get on with his family. I supposed that was why he said very little about his background.