I knew people would judge me for dating
a convicted murderer, but Stephen seemed
so deserving of a second chance. After my
divorce, I found the attention flattering.
I visited Stephen in prison and we’d hold
hands, hug and share kisses.
Then, in March 2012, Stephen was moved
to an open prison in Lincolnshire. He was
allowed home visits and I introduced him to
my daughters. Eventually, later that year, he
was released on licence after serving just
13 years of a life sentence.
It was such a whirlwind but while Stephen
was planning our future, I suddenly panicked.
I didn’t think our relationship would work
on the outside and I was worried about my
family being exposed to scrutiny. “I’m sorry,
this is never going to work. I can’t handle it,”
I told Stephen.
He was heartbroken and after his release
in December, he was constantly coming
round to the house, begging me to take him
back. He was desperate for me to trust him
and I didn’t want to abandon him completely,
so I agreed to accompany him to probation
meetings as a friend.
Over the next six months, Stephen found
a job in a factory, passed his driving test
and his probation meetings went from once
a week to once a month. He pursued me
relentlessly and I came round to the idea
of us being together again.
“I missed some of my best years in prison,”
he said, tearfully. “I’m scared I’ll never have
a chance to be a father.”
He’d worked so hard to prove himself andmaintaining a good behaviour record.
Slowly, our friendship progressed to
speaking on the phone. I was nervous about
discussing the murder, but Stephen wanted
to share the truth about what happened.
He’d been convicted of killing 72-year-old
retired pharmacist Jack Greenwell. The
court heard Stephen had burgled
his home, beaten and stabbed
him to death, then set his
bungalow ablaze.
“They got it all wrong,”
Stephen cried. “He came
at me with a knife and
I had no choice but to
turn it on him.”
As I listened to the
chilling details, I was
shaken. Stephen had clearly
done wrong but he was so
earnest. What I’d heard about
his crime didn’t tally with the calm,
kind man I’d been speaking to. “Please, you
have to believe me,” he said.MAKING A GO OF IT
I gave careful consideration to Stephen’s
version of events and after a few weeks,
I started to believe him. As the months went
on, our friendship developed into romance.
“I never stopped loving you,” Stephen
admitted during one of our phone calls.P
assing through the scanning
machine, I couldn’t stop shaking.
It was 2010 and the last place I’d
expected to find myself was in the
visitors’ room of HMP Hull. As I made my way
inside, my teenage sweetheart Stephen Unwin
greeted me with a beaming smile. “It’s so
good to see you,” he said.
I met Stephen in the summer
of 1994. We were both in our
last year of secondary
school and he was so
polite and lovely. Our
relationship was very
innocent and after four
months as a couple,
we decided we were
better suited as friends.
I moved on with my life
and I only saw Stephen in
passing. I trained to be a nurse,
got married and had two daughters,
Sarah in October 1996 and Amy four
years later. In 1999, I heard through the
grapevine that Stephen had been in trouble
with the law and landed himself in prison,
but I was too busy raising my daughters to
give it much thought.
Then, in 2010, my marriage fell apart. My
husband had an affair and I was devastated.
Feeling lonely, I reconnected with some old
friends on Facebook. It was one of them who
mentioned my name to Stephen. “We’re
still in touch and he’s been asking about
you,” he revealed.
Stephen was keen to catch up and
write to me. I knew he’d been jailed for
murder, but I didn’t know the full story.
Although I was nervous, I had fond
memories of our relationship so I agreed
and I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
We exchanged a few friendly letters.
Stephen had received a life sentence but
thought he had a good chance of being
released on licence. He’d been working
PHOTOS: Mark Pinder, Mirrorpix *Some names have been changedhard in prison, learning new skills and
‘I had a baby
with a double
murderer’
When nurse Rachel Edmundson, 40, from Sunderland, gave
convicted killer Stephen Unwin a second chance, she
believed he was a changed man
‘Stephen
is a sick,
twisted liar’
Ellie has stopped
asking about her dadStephen and Rachel
were teenage
sweethearts