'I reported my paedophile husband after finding his child sex abuse images'
A woman reported her husband of almost 20 years after discovering he was a paedophile and had child sex abuse images on some discs at home.
Ann - not her real name - was alone in the caravan she shared with Terence "Terry" Donovan when she put a disc into a computer, thinking there was music on it.
The 70-year-old, from Cardiff, said they were initially coming up with an error message, but when she switched to the photo option, she felt "absolute horror".
First, Ann saw a young woman in a shower who had been secretly filmed through a peephole by the paedo, reports Wales Online.
Feeling horrified at the discovery she made in Tenby, Wales, one weekend in 2018, the woman felt a duty to report her 73-year-old husband to the police.
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Donovan's crimes spanned from 2002 to 2018 (None)Donovan was later jailed after admitting voyeurism and downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children.
Recalling the years she spent with Donovan, Ann said she had a feeling that something was not right for quite some time.
She explained: "I felt like I was in a tunnel in that marriage. You think you must be imagining things but if you've got a gut feeling, you've got to act on it."
Ann first met Donovan in the early 1990s when they worked together at a store in Cardiff.
At the time, the pair were both single and nothing happened between them but years later, they met at a convenience shop in the area where they lived.
By then, Ann was divorced and Donovan's previous wife had died, and after bumping into each other once again a couple of months later, they decided to go for a drink.
Ann recalled: "It was the first time in a while that someone had. He was a bit of a charmer, a good talker. He seemed like a proper gentleman."
Donovan, who was the trustee of a local social club, was seen as a "pillar of the community", said Ann. She added he would often do the washing, ironing, cleaning and cooking.
She remembers speaking about him with friends who said he seemed "too good to be true". And within a few months, he had proposed.
Ann said: "He told me, 'We're at that age where we both want company'.
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"I was taken in by it. I loved my job as a healthcare support worker, but it was hard shift work and I wanted someone to come home to."
They married in 1999 and Donovan moved in with Ann in Ely, Cardiff, before selling his own house in 2001, around the time he retired from his job in construction training.
Ann was surprised that he had given up work while still in his early 50s. She said: "He'd say to me, 'Let me know what time you'll be home from work, I'll have tea on the table'."
The woman said she felt the relationship was controlling, with Donovan picking the clothes she could wear and always checking her bank account while she had no access to his.
In 2007, the pair moved to Tenby despite Ann's reluctance and she claimed her husband used her money to buy four caravans.
They lived together in one and rented out the other three in a scheme Ann had wanted "nothing to do with".
"I'd told him I didn't want to get into anything like that," she said. "But it was all my money he used and then the rent went into his account. I never saw any of the money."
She then started missing Cardiff so she moved back, while visiting Donovan at the caravan every few weekends.
She said: "He never, ever allowed me to see his phone. He even took it in the toilet with him. When I asked why, he said it was because someone might ring about the caravans. I think it was really that he didn't want me to see what was on there.
"He didn't sleep in the nights. I thought he was watching TV in another room but I remember one time when he didn't hear me coming out of the bedroom. I opened the door and suddenly he slammed his laptop down. I said something like, 'Did I catch the cat with the cream?' I didn't think much of it at the time."
When she later discovered her husband's dark secret, Ann said she was in "too much shock" to confront him but she reported him to police, who then raided the caravan.
She has never spoken to him about his crimes, although she bumped into him one day in Barry Island while he was on bail. "I was so gobsmacked and scared that I turned round and ran away," she said.
Police discovered that Donovan's crimes spanned from 2002 to 2018. He pleaded guilty to voyeurism by recording a private act and possessing 46 indecent images of children in Category A — the most serious — as well as 52 in Category B, 1,205 in Category C, and 684 extreme pornographic images involving animals.
Donovan appeared on October 28 last year at Swansea Crown Court where he was handed a 16-month jail term — a sentence Ann believes should have been much longer.
She said: "I think with anything like that the minimum should be five years. We're not sending a proper message to these paedophiles. I appreciate the judge's hands were tied but I think the justice system should be re-evaluated so that these people are getting years behind bars."
Ann described herself as a "mess" after learning of her husband's crimes and, despite her situation, she had to wait around eight months for support on the NHS.
The first thing the counsellor told Ann was: "It wasn't your fault. You can't blame yourself."
Ann added: "I sometimes think about people who may have suspicions about their spouse, or people who are being coerced into things.
"I want to send the message that they should not be afraid to speak up."
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