WATCHING the news, Amanda Galler was appalled as she heard the details of how Matthew Welsh had brutally murdered a teenager.

What she never imagined was that years later she would be preparing to walk down the aisle with the very same man.

However, while Amanda may have been able to forgive Welsh of his crimes, was unable to forgive him a second time when, after waiting 17 years for his release, she never heard from him again.

In 2003, Welsh, then 19, had dominated a gang who tortured 14-year-old Adam Morrell for hours while high on a cocktail of drink and drugs and afterwards he was strangled and decapitated. 

Welsh was sentenced to life, serving a minimum of 20 years for murder, while his then girlfriend Sarah Morris, 17, got four years for assault and friend Nathan Barnett, 27, was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Office administrator Amanda, 46, says that, like the rest of the world she had been horrified by Welsh’s sick crimes.

SICK CRIMES

“I was gobsmacked and wondered how anyone could be so evil,” she says. 

“I was horrified and couldn’t understand what made people like this tick. I was only six years older than the so-called ringleader. 

“The story was on every news channel and in every newspaper. Every time I turned my TV on, it was there. I became really engrossed in it. 

“I began following the story. I read all the newspapers and watched all the news footage. I’ve seen lots of horrible stories like this before, but for some reason, I couldn’t get this one out of my head."

In 2006, Amanda came across a newspaper article which stated that Welsh had been moved to a different prison and she felt compelled to get in touch with him.

She explains: “I don’t know what came over me, but I decided to write to him. 

“I honestly don’t know what was going on in my mind - I think I just thought I was being a Good Samaritan. 

“I put pen to paper - never expecting a reply.”

But just a few weeks later, Amanda received a reply from the prisoner.

“The first letter I received just said, ‘Hi, how are you? Thanks for your letter, it gets a bit lonely in here. I’m so glad you’ve written to me,’” she says.

“I couldn’t believe it.”

GROWING CLOSER

The pair continued corresponding, writing to one another every week with Welsh urging Amanda to ignore what she read about him.

“'Dear Amanda,' he’d write, 'don’t believe everything you read about me - most of it isn’t true. I was easily led and bullied into doing what I did, and I’m so sorry for my part,’” she says.  

“And like a fool, I believed him. He came over as so shy and humble. 

“At the time, I was a single mum with three little kids. I suppose I was lonely and bored, and I've always loved writing letters. 

“Since I was a young girl, I always had pen pals. It started when I saw an article about it in Smash Hits, it was a magazine back in the 90’s. 

“They were encouraging people to become pen pals with people all over the place. I loved it. I’ve always loved writing letters."

But as the pair continued to write to one another, the nature of the letters changed, becoming more personal and romantic.

Amanda explains: “He would write some really romantic stuff to me. 'My darling Amanda, I really look forward to your letters; they keep me going in here,' he’d pen 'I don’t know why I have this connection to you, but you are really important to me. Lots of love, Matt.' 

“Reading his words made my heart flutter, and I couldn’t wait to write back to him. 

“When I was at work, all I could think about was getting home so I could sit down and start on my letter."

About a year after Amanda first started writing to Welsh, he began to become more open about his apparent feelings.

"He started sending me love poems and drew love hearts all over the letters and told me that he loved me,” she says.

“Every night I’d sit and read his letters over and over again. I got to the point that I felt hypnotised by his words and that I’d actually forgotten why he was in prison and what he’d done.

“His letters consumed me. I would wait by the front door for the post to arrive as his letters would make my heart race.”

FINALLY MEETING

The pair’s written relationship continued for 12 years before, in 2019 the pair decided that they should meet face to face.

Amanda recalls: "He sent me a visiting order to visit him at Grendon prison, in Aylesbury. It was surreal; after all these years, I was finally going to see him.

"At the time, I was living in London; it was a long trip to the prison, about three hours on the train then a 40 minute taxi from the station to the prison. 

“I was so nervous; I spent most of the journey wringing my hands in anticipation and going over and over of what I was going to say to him. 

“I felt that after 12 years of writing to each other that we were in a long-term relationship; I knew everything about him through the hundreds of letters we’d exchanged, and I had feelings for him too - although we’d never actually even met.

"I'd never been in a prison before and was so nervous I couldn’t stop shaking. I gave the prison officer my VO that Mathew had sent me. 

“I couldn’t believe it, I was about to meet my boyfriend for the first time. 

“In the waiting room, I could barely breathe and could feel my chest getting tighter, I thought my heart was going to explode.

"I sat at the table waiting for Mathew. my knees were literally knocking together. Then he sauntered in. 

“He had a beaming smile and a twinkle in his eye. I could feel my heart pounding as he hugged me. His first words to me were, ‘Hello, sweetheart - at last, it’s finally nice to meet you.’ 

“I just went bright red and couldn’t stop smiling. 

“We sat talking for ages; he seemed really shy - nothing that I was expecting from someone that had done the terrible things that he had. 

“I was blindsided and didn’t see a murderer sitting in front of me at all. We talked non-stop for the entire time I was there. 

“It was as though I’d known him forever. It felt so natural.”

MAKING THE MOVE

The visits went from once a week to twice a week for the next 10 months with Amanda making the gruelling journey each time.

But then in November 2020 Welsh told Amanda he was being moved to Sudbury open prison in Derbyshire and that he would be allowed days out. 

“We agreed that it would make more sense for me to move closer to him so we could see each other when he was on his day release,” she says. 

“I couldn’t wait. I did a house swap and moved from London to Burton. And as planned, when he had his day release from the prison, he would come to my home and spend the day with me. 

“By then, I was blindly in love with him. We would spend our days in bed together with him stroking me and whispering in my ear that he wanted to marry me. 

"He told me he wanted us to be together forever and that he wanted to marry me as soon as he was released from prison for good.

“I was the happiest woman in the world. I never gave his past a second’s thought - all I could see was today and our future together and that we’d known each other for 17 years now. 

“To me it was the right ending after all this time we’d been together - I was actually going to become Mrs. Welsh and to mark our upcoming nuptials I went and got a tattoo, a heartbeat with his initial M in it. Love had completely taken over."

WEDDING PLANS

Amanda immediately began putting the wedding plans in motion.

She says: "We set up a ‘Hitched’ account and on his days out from the prison, we went wedding shopping; he paid for everything, he even bought his own wedding suit. 

“We both went to the registry office and put the bands in.”

The couple were due to be married on 27th December 2023.

“I was so excited I thought I was going to burst,” Amanda says.

“But then Mathew dropped a bombshell and suggested we wait until January as he wasn’t 100% sure he’d actually be released from prison in time. 

“As gutted as I was, I reluctantly agreed.”

GONE WITHOUT A TRACE

But as January approached, Welsh became distant from Amanda.

“His visits got less and he rarely answered his phone,” she recalls.

“A week before his release, I was so excited, waiting for his call, but it never came. 

“I didn’t understand; we were supposed to be getting married in a few weeks. 

“I’d heard he’d been released, so I tried to call him. I constantly called his phone and sent text messages, but they were all ignored. 

“I became panicked, wondering what was going on. I tried to call again, but his phone was always switched off; then he completely changed his number. 

“I was beside myself, wondering what the hell was happening. I’ve never heard from him since. 

“I’ve been completely ghosted by Mathew. I was so confused and utterly heartbroken - although I have now heard that he is seeing someone else, a younger woman.”

Amanda says that the experience has left her ‘devastated.’

“I can’t believe that I’ve been such a fool and wish I’d never put pen to paper,” she says.

“I can’t believe how I’ve been so blinded by love. 17 years I gave him, I even picked my life up and moved halfway across the country, leaving my friends and family behind to be with him and then to be just snuffed out like a candle.”

Amanda now wants to warn other women before they consider writing to prisoners.

She says: “I can’t help but feel angry that I wasted so much of my life. 

“I believe now that I was actually groomed and manipulated by Mathew and he ultimately used by his charm and love bombing just to keep himself occupied while he was inside. 

“I really want to warn other women out there who think they can change these people because you can’t, and you will only end up getting hurt.”

Matthew Walsh declined the opportunity to comment.