A 68-year-old British woman who married a 31-year-old Nigerian man when he was just 27 has cried out after he disappeared after joining her in the UK.
Dawn Otewell said she was lonely and depressed when she met Bright Emokpae, from Edo State, Nigeria. She said they met on a dating app.
Though he is 36 years her junior, he wooed her, professed his love to her, and made her feel his love was genuine, so she gave him a chance.
Now, four years on, Dawn is concerned that her children’s inheritance might be at stake as Bright has disappeared and refused to sign divorce papers that will disinherit him if she dies.
Dawn, a grandmother of seven, is in poor health with heart disease, sciatica, angina and IBS.
She says that she is now struggling to track down Bright so she can serve him with divorce papers and be free of him.
She is convinced the 31-year-old has intentionally gone missing to avoid being deported from the UK.
“It’s an absolute nightmare,” Dawn, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, told The Sun UK.
“I’m still his legally married wife, but apparently, l have no right to know where he is.
“He’s done a runner and is refusing to sign the divorce papers because I believe he wants to cling on to his spouse visa.
“I haven’t spoken to Bright since he blocked me on social media about eight months ago.
“Our last conversation was when I told him: I know you’ve moved house and left your job and I don’t care; I just want you to sign the divorce papers.
“He replied: ‘I don’t have them anymore. I’m not going to sign them.
“In the meantime, my health is not good.
“My biggest fear is that l’I die before this is sorted out and he’ll run off with the money my three children should inherit.”
Dawn, who hasn’t written a will, fears Bright could be entitled to her possessions, which include jewellery, cash, and the furniture in her home.