But meeting the woman of his dreams saved him from depression and despair.

'I was single and had just moved back to Portsmouth from Bournemouth in 2004 when I went on a dating phone line and I met somebody,' said Ian, 51, from Southsea.

'It was October 2004 and I thought she thought the world of me, as much as I thought the world of her. We moved in together in December, which was probably a bit rushed but it felt completely right at the time.

'In 2006 I found out that she'd been plotting to leave me for a couple of months. She had been saving up all the money and putting together plans for a removal van. She'd also found someone else and she'd been seeing this bloke behind my back.

'It was on February 10 when I got a text message from her when I was coming home from work. I'd been trying to get hold of her all day and I couldn't raise her at all.

'On the way home I got a text message from her. She said she'd left me and that she'd left the front door keys under the next door neighbour's bin.

'She took some items that I'd bought with her – not so much things with sentimental value just things I'd managed to buy. When I got home all she'd left me with was the television set.

'She rang my next door neighbour and got a mouthful and we never heard from her again after that.

'It was totally out of the blue and I fell to pieces really. I didn't know where to turn.

'In 2001 I'd managed to get a weekend off work and had come down to Portsmouth to visit my dad. I was sitting having a cup of coffee in a place on Clarence Parade Pier, in Southsea, and Beverley was sitting there having a cup of coffee.

'We got chatting and swapped phone numbers and we kept in touch. Every time one of us changed phone numbers we told each other our new number but it was a platonic friendship.

'When she found out what was going on she got the next train down from Reading – and I mean the very next train – and we took off from there. She took one look at me standing there at the train station and she cried.

'She had her suitcases with her and she looked at me and burst into tears. I had no meat on my face, my eyes were sunken. I looked like a skeleton, you could see the bones coming through my skin and it frightened me.

'When we first met I knew it was just platonic because she was in a relationship and I was going through a divorce but we arranged to keep in touch.

'I remember liking her from the first time we met but I knew I couldn't do anything about it.

'When my ex-girlfriend left me I went down from 11-and-a-half stone to six stone. It was mental stress really and dealing with what had happened. One day I went back to work and I thought I was having a heart attack, which I later found out was an anxiety attack.

'At the time me and Beverley were just really good friends but then I had a hip operation. She was going to go back to Reading but then they told me my operation was going to be in August and she said she'd stay with me to help me get over the operation. It was during that time that we got closer.

'I haven't had that many relationships but Beverley took such good care of me and she helped me out so much with what I was going through.

'If I felt down in the dumps she'd do anything to cheer me up. She'd bring me breakfast in bed just to cheer me up. Without her support I don't think I would be the person I am today.

'She definitely saved my life. If she hadn't come down from Reading that day I dread to think what would have happened to me. I was in that state of mind when I could have just faded away.

'But when she came that was when my head started to change and I wanted to carry on with living.

'It's been absolutely fantastic since. She's fantastic.

'I'm quite proud to have got through what I've got through and how much Beverley helped me that I tell everyone about her.

'We were married on June 23, 2007, at Portsmouth Register Office. It was really emotional.

'I play the guitar and write my own music and my wife has encouraged me to play for her. Everything I write is about her.

'Before she came I wouldn't play in front of any other girl. I'd always play in the bedroom or the bathroom so no-one could hear me and because I didn't think I had a very good voice.

'But Beverley has encouraged me and she's really boosted my self-confidence from zero to 60.

'She's given me the confidence to sing and to sing in front of her. She's given me so much confidence and I love her.

'I'm not angry at my ex-girlfriend any more. Things like this do affect you at the time and before and after Beverley came down I was torturing myself thinking what had I done wrong.

'But you know, you're not always going to get answers to the questions and you just have to let some things go.'