Lonely wife, 44, sent intimate pictures to a Nigerian love scammer who threatened to reveal their 'affair' to her husband and teenage sons...but what happened next was the real tragedy
In 2019, Gail Astin, from Jedburgh, Scotland, hit the headlines when she revealed how she'd sent thousands of pounds, as well as naked selfies, to a man she'd met online while feeling lonely in her marriage to husband Simon.
The 44-year-old believed she was talking to David Williams, a US marine engineer working in Nigeria, but when he started demanding more money not to expose their online affair, she called the police and confessed all to Simon.
Although her husband was angry, he said that he'd never considered leaving his wife and partly blamed himself for not paying her enough attention.
It seemed that the situation had come to a happy conclusion with the couple vowing to move on together as a family, and communicate more openly.
However, it can now be revealed that the following year, as the family thought they had put their troubles behind them, Gail was diagnosed with a brain tumour and died just two months later, aged 46.
Paying tribute to his wife of 18 years, Simon spoke of his 'best friend and soulmate' who gave him their 'two wonderful sons', who were teenagers at the time.
'The messages of support and encouragement she received when we told people about her illness left her very humbled,' he told the Burnley Express. 'She never realised how well liked she was.'
Her diagnosis came a year after she shared her experience of being scammed on social media in 2018, after falling for a man who said he was a 55-year-old widower called David Williams, a US marine engineer and father working in Nigeria.
At the time Gail had been signed off work with stress and was struggling to confide in Simon, who she married in 2002.
She said she was desperate for friendship after feeling 'isolated' following the family's move from Burnley to the Scottish border in 2011, and was unable to find a way to talk to her family about her mental health,
So when 'caring' David got in touch out of the blue on social media, the mother-of-two felt 'special again' and she quickly fell for the stranger after exchanging messages daily.
David, who claimed he was originally from Texas, said he had moved to Nigeria for work, and needed financial support for food and travel.
'He always came across as caring and sympathetic towards me,' she said. 'He took an interest in what I was going through. My husband was struggling with how to deal with my feelings.
'He's not an emotional person so for a long time, I bottled my own emotions up.'
'I felt lonely and needed someone to talk to. He caught me at a low point.
'At first he asked for £200 for iTunes cards so he could buy data for his phone. He seemed so desperate and just kept asking me. He was persistent.
'He started asking for more and more but he promised he would get the money back to me. I honestly believed him.'
In September, after just a month of chatting daily on Instagram and later on WhatsApp, David 'pleaded' to Gail for her to send him naked photos.
'He always told me to trust him, and I did,' she explained. 'He told me his wife had died and I felt sorry for him. He pulled on my heart strings.
'I knew in my head that what I was doing was wrong but I did still it. I can't explain why. I was just in the wrong frame of mind.'
In several transactions between August and December, she sent hundreds and then thousands of pounds at a time, allegedly to fund David's travel back to the US to see his daughter Sharon, after his three-month contract in Nigeria came to an end.
After months of building up trust, all of Gail's personal information was used against her by the fraudster
Her money was sent to different banks in the US and Nigeria, into accounts belonging to different people.
'David' said they were collecting the cash on his behalf as he didn't have a Nigerian bank account,' Gail said.
Gail admitted she knew she was being 'used' emotionally, but she sent him cash via international money transfer service, MoneyGram.
'He said he couldn't get home if I didn't send him the money,' she added. 'By this point he had made me feel special, I felt nice. I fell for him.
'I was getting more and more suspicious but he always promised to get the money back to me when he got back to America.'
Gail started to doubt David's promise to pay up when he refused to help pay off her Visa bill in November 2018.
She refused to send him more money the following month, and David instantly 'turned nasty' and threatened to send her naked photos to her friends and family.
He hounded Gail with messages and told her: 'You will send £2,000 to an account of my choice'.
His messages said: 'I am going to be blunt with you as I don't have the luxury of wasting time.'
'You will listen to what I have to say and you will listen good.'
'You have one hour. Get the cops involved and everyone including Scottish borders will know.
'Do not f**k with me am not here to play games. The tough girl act is just going to make things worse for you.
'I wonder how your [family] will think of you when your nicked [sic] pictures get viral.'
Finally, Gail phoned police - and confessed to Simon, who promised to stand by his wife.
'I didn't want to send him any more money. When I said no he told me he would send the photos to my mum, dad, sister and husband,' she said.
'I'm ashamed of what I did. I didn't want to take the photos but he wouldn't stop asking for them.
'I didn't want to hurt Simon but I didn't know what else to do. I had to tell him.'
Gail phoned 999 on December 5, 2018, after feeling 'suicidal' and then called Simon.
She said: 'I phoned Simon and told him to come home from work because the police were at our house. I said I'd explain everything.
'He was angry. I feared for my marriage and I did say that if he wants me to go, I will leave.
'We try not to talk about it because it makes him very angry. He has struggled to come to terms with it all. I feel guilty because we have lost so much money. I hate myself for what I've done and I thought he would leave me.'
Simon didn't leave his wife - despite admitting the experience almost 'broke' them - and paid off her debts by dipping into his late father's inheritance money.
Health and safety adviser Simon even later blamed himself for a time and questioned whether or not he'd showed his wife enough love and attention.
'I had no idea what was going on and I was absolutely clueless and in the dark,' he admitted. 'I had all sorts running through my mind.
'I started to feel guilty. I thought I hadn't paid her enough attention and felt completely inadequate.
'It was all too much to take in. I couldn't comprehend why she would do what she did.
'I came to terms with the fact the money was gone forever.
'At one point I didn't know if we would get through it but I never actually considered leaving her.
'I just wanted to put it all behind us and move on. We are over that rocky patch and we are moving on as a family now.'
Speaking to the press in 2019, Gail had said she was still being threatened with the photos by the scammer, but had changed her phone numbers, email addresses and social media accounts.
And she felt grateful that Simon was committed to repairing their fractured relationship and 'gave her a second chance'.
'I have promised to never ever speak to anyone I don't know online,' she added. 'I will never hide anything from him again.
'We have just had to accept that the money is gone.'
It turned out the fraudster was actually using photos of a Portuguese businessman, Pedro Hipolito, 51, who was furious after discovering the trickster was using his image to exploit vulnerable women.
Mr Hipolito, who lives in Portugal, and runs a business which helps companies work in Africa, said he believed his work in the continent makes his identity an 'easy target'.
But despite enlisting staff to report 'countless' fake social media accounts posing as him, he found it impossible to stop the fraudster.
'It's a crime and I hate that people are doing this. It's unstoppable. Something must be done to stop these fake accounts,' he told outlets six years ago.
'It has happened to me frequently. It's not the first time it has happened and it doesn't surprise me.
'It's terrible that lonely people are the victims. All they want is joy in their lives and they are vulnerable.
'It does concern me, that my photos are being used. But I am not the victim here although it does damage my image.'
At the time, a Police Scotland spokesperson said the online fraud offence was being investigated, and inquiries were ongoing.
MailOnline has reached out to Police Scotland for an update.
Sadly, just as Gail and her family were moving on from the scam, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in July 2020.
A month later, she was told that due to the location of the tumour, it wasn't possible to operate and all doctors could offer was chemo and radiotherapy to extend her life.
She was told she may have as little as three months to live, but could survive up to a year if the treatment was successful.
Gail curated a 'bucket list' which included swimming with dolphins, a hot air balloon ride - and lunch with her favourite footballer, Jay Rodriguez - who was at the time with her Burnley FC.
Sadly, while Jay was keen to meet Gail for lunch, the joyous surprise had be cancelled due to a hospital appointment.
'After that Gail became gravely ill and was taken into hospital,' Simon told Burnley Express.
'But Jay Rod kept in touch and messaged to say how sorry he was to hear about Gail and he has got in a touch also to see how I am.'
He also revealed how it was their mutual love of the football team that brought them together in the first place - as the pair connected through an online fan group.
They first met after Gail offered to help Simon get some tickets for a game - and were engaged within six months.
The couple continued to be ardent fans - even after Simon's work took the family much further north, to the Scottish borders.
'As the boys got older we started to take them and we even got season tickets,' he told the outlet.
'It was hard work travelling from so far away but Gail lived for the weekends. She loved meeting up with all the other supporters at the cricket club where the boys could play outside and run around.
'Gail made so many friends from all over the country through the football. Everyone always commented on her infectious smile and bubbly personality but she was also quite a private person and family was very important to her.'
When it came to her funeral, Simon had encouraged mourners to come dressed as they would for a match - as his beloved late wife was 'was never happier than when fraternising with the away fans at the cricket club and being amongst her fellow Clarets'.
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