WHEN Sarah MacLeod first fell for William McDermott's charms, she had no idea her husband-to-be would terrorize her family and leave them living in fear.
The 44-year-old met McDermott in Worcester in 1996 - 11 years on she told your Worcester News how the home they once shared had been turned into a "fortress" to keep the family safe, with a panic alarm connected to the police station, a reinforced door with a spy hole and intercom and locks on all the windows.
"It's desperate to live like this, it's horrendous," she said. "We all live in constant fear." Miss MacLeod said when she met McDermott, she pitied him after he told her his 10-year-old brother Brian was brutally murdered when he was just 16.
"He's a very manipulative person," said Mrs McDermott, of Longfellow Road, off Bilford Road. "He would do the most wonderful things.
"He would make hand-made chocolates for me and would make himself absolutely indispensable.
"He's very narcissistic. He must have spent three years being somebody he actually wasn't and of course you can't keep it up."
She said he eventually revealed his true colours when he developed a "hatred" for her children from a previous relationship, Lisa-Lauren, aged 19, Will, 24 and Lewis, 20.
When she decided to end the relationship, chilling messages started to arrive and Lisa-Lauren left the family home because she felt scared to be there alone.
Miss MacLeod added: "He sent a text telling us that one of us was going to die.
"He's told me I'm going to have to spent the rest of my life looking over my shoulder because he's biding his time.
"The worst thing he did was to send an e-mail to Lisa and myself, but it was clearly stating that he knew Lisa was going to university and that he going to find her."
Because of this Lisa-Lauren abandoned plans to go to the University of Worcester. She said: "He put that he was going to find me as soon as I enrolled. A few days before I decided it really wasn't worth the risk.
"He was unpredictable and had been quiet for a while and when he's quiet he's planning."
Her mother added: "I think I'm more upset about that than anything else it feels like he's taken her future away from her." She said Will has also moved home from Portugal because he fears for his family's safety.
Miss MacLeod said she is extremely grateful to West Mercia Constabulary, in particular the Domestic Violence Unit for its support.
On hearing the verdict she said: "It's a positive verdict for my family.
"I'm pleased he's been given a custodial sentence and I'm glad that the judge took it as being serious.
"Obviously this gives me and my family a bit of time to sort ourselves out. I'm pretty sure when he comes out he will be angrier."
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