A woman whose partner ran off with a Ukrainian refugee less than two weeks after she moved in with the couple says she wants peace to “rebuild” her life.
Lorna Garnett, 28, this week won a restraining order against her ex Tony, 29, this week after he allegedly bombarded her with abusive messages.
The West Yorks mum claims that she had reservations about letting refugee Sofiia Karkadym into her home in Bradford with long term boyfriend, Anthony and became even more concerned when their new housemate began wearing "low cut tops and red lipstick" around the house.
After two weeks Lorna snapped and kicked Sofiia out - but says she was left devastated when her partner of eight years went with Sofiia.
Now, the jilted mum has spoken of her feelings after discovering her partner Tony, a former security guard, had moved another woman and her boyfriend from Ukraine into his new home.
Tony and Sofiia have set up a new home that they are renting together in Bradford and have begun sharing their place with a refugee couple - another Sofia, and her boyfriend, Illia.
The couple extended the invite to Sofia, 19, and Illia, 18, after spotting an internet plea for help from the pair, who had arrived as refugees from Ukraine on June 23.
They had posted an appeal on Facebook stating they were being booted out of the Bradford home they had been invited into by a British family after they fled their home country.
In an interview with the Sun, Lorna revealed how Tony’s affair with Sofiia turned her life upside down.
She said: "I never imagined that this could happen to me. I used to be quite outgoing and bubbly but now I don't like to leave the house.
“Tony seems to love the attention but I can't bear it. I feel humiliated by it all. No one really knows the truth.
“After eight years together I thought I knew him, but I didn't. All I want now is peace to rebuild my life with our two girls,” she said.
She went on to say she hoped the restraining order she had been granted against him would give her that.
While she would never stop him from seeing his children, she “refused” to let them get dragged into the drama.
Lorna previously said her former houseguest had “set her sights on Anthony” from the start and after deciding she wanted him, went on to take him.
She said she didn’t understand how he could “throw away” his life with her for a woman he had known for a fortnight.
Tony and Sofiia’s story has even made headlines in Ukraine, as IT manager Sofiia and security guard Anthony cosied up for the cameras claiming they "couldn't fight" their love for each other.
Tony had signed up to the Government scheme to house refugees in the wake of Russia ’s invasion but claimed he turned to social media to offer help when he found the application process too slow.
The dad, who works in an NHS drop-in centre, was introduced to Sofiia on Facebook and offered to become her UK sponsor.
Sofiia travelled from Kyiv to Lviv, into Poland and then on to Berlin before flying to Manchester airport to meet Tony after securing her visa at the beginning of May.
Within days tensions rose as Tony and their new guest grew close — as Lorna became increasingly suspicious that Sofiia wanted more than just a roof over her head.
Regretting opening their rented home, Lorna's concerns grew further when Sofiia would 'put on make-up, style her hair and wear a low-cut top only around the time Tony returned home from work'.
After packing his bags to follow Sofiia, Lorna says Tony and his new muse started sharing a bed at his mum’s house.
He told Lorna they had fallen head over heels in love during a whirlwind romance and he wanted to build a new life with Sofiia, the heartbroken mum claims.
Lorna recalled that it had quickly "become clear" that Sofiia had no interest in spending time with her and said communication between them became difficult despite her "good English".
Lorna added that she had even taken Sofiia shopping to help her pick out some new clothes but soon noticed that her guest rarely surfaced from her room until Tony was coming home from work.
She claims that Sofiia made "no effort with her appearance" all day, only putting on make up and styling her hair when Tony was returning.
A neighbour even warned Lorna she spotted Tony and Sofiia being "touchy feely" and talking intimately as they stood smoking together at the entrance to the family home.
The mum added: “By that time I’d started to feel like the third wheel as they sat on the sofa laughing and joking while I was ignored. I suddenly felt unwelcome in my own home.”
Lorna — who changed her surname by deed poll but is not married to Tony — has now warned other families about the dangers of inviting a stranger into their home.
Warning others, Lorna claimed she would never put anyone off helping Ukrainian refugees but added that she didn't want to see anyone else go through this "devastating" ordeal.
Tony has apologised for the heartbreak but insisted he had "never had a love" like that with Sofiia as the pair admitted they had fallen in love at first sight.
Nearly 54,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in the UK under Government schemes.
Refugees Minister Lord Harrington said: “We are doing all we can to support new arrivals.”
