It's been bloody ages since I last looked at the Bristol Evening Post website for a fix of Bristolian weirness. Today, I did so on a passing whim... and was not disappointed!

Bristol pensioner proposed to the addict who robbed him - now it's all over

---

AN 83-year-old pensioner fell in love and proposed to a 26-year-old heroin addict after she robbed him.

But she stole money from the grandfather a second time and now he says he can no longer stand by her.

Michelle Davies robbed trusting Keith Williams and was serving a prison sentence for that crime when their romance blossomed.

Details of their unusual romance emerged at Bristol Crown Court as Davies, who first took heroin when she was eight years old, was sentenced for theft and common assault.

Mr Williams, now 83, first met Davies in 2006 when she was sleeping rough in the stairwell of Oak House, Bishport Avenue, Hartcliffe, where he has lived for 36 years. The Good Samaritan took her in and she initially stayed in his flat for several weeks.

But on May 19, 2006, things took a nasty turn. Mr Williams, who uses crutches to walk after four hip replacement operations, had withdrawn £200 from the post office.

Davies saw him on Sampsons Road and asked him for £6, but when he declined she snatched his wallet from his pocket and ran away.

A man who lived nearby called the police and the case went to court.

Mr Williams revealed to the Evening Post it was as he sat watching Davies being sent down that he realised he loved her.

Sitting in his flat, still wearing his engagement ring engraved "Michelle", he said: "When I was in court that day and she got sentenced to two-and-a-half years I thought I was the person who had done wrong and put her in prison. I thought she felt something towards me, because I felt something towards her.

"I tried to help her. I thought I might be able to help her with the drugs but drug addicts do not seem to want to be helped," added the retired construction worker. "When you're on drugs like that you've got a hell of a job to turn it around."

Mr Williams started visiting her at Eastwood Park prison every fortnight and the pair wrote letters to each other every day as they became closer and closer. In her letters and phone calls Davies poured her heart out to Mr Williams, talking of the "terrible" things that happened in her childhood, the nightmares she has and the self-harm she inflicted upon herself in prison.

But the messages Mr Williams cherished the most spelled out how much she loved him and missed him. Davies even bought him a teddy bear with the words "Love you lots" on it. Eventually the pensioner, who has been divorced three times, plucked up the courage to propose.

He did so on a prison visit and gave her a gold ring engraved "Keith", while his bears the name "Michelle".

She said "yes" straight away and against all odds, the engagement continued when Davies was released and would eventually last three years.

But prosecuting at court, David Hunter explained how on May 2 this year, Davies' urges struck again. She stole £200 of £290 that was on a table in Mr Williams' living room. Having noticed the money was missing, the 83-year-old locked the front door and confronted her.

She screamed at him to give her the key, snatched it from his hand and pushed him in the chest before making her escape.

Embarrassed Mr Williams said: "People warned me, but I never thought she would do it again to me. It happened out of the blue and I think the shock of it made me call the police.

"There are still feelings there and I can't get rid of those feelings. I can't get her out of my mind.

"I'm glad she only got 12 months in prison but I know I can't have anything to do with her now. She'll never change."

Asked whether loneliness had played its part, he said: "Anybody who makes friends with you takes away some of the loneliness."

He says since the theft in May he has not written to her, but she has called him several times. And when asked if and when he will take off his engagement ring, he said: "It will stay on there... I just don't know."

Davies admitted theft and assault. Sentencing her to a year in prison, Judge Mark Horton condemned her for her "horrific criminal record" but acknowledged she had been the victim of an "appalling life history" since she was five years old.

He said: "It's hard to ignore how low a person can stoop in life to steal from a vulnerable old man, of mature years, who has an undoubted physical impairment, of which you were aware, and who had extended the hand of forgiveness and friendship to you.

"In my judgment, you have, because of your addiction, learned how to talk the talk when it comes to dealing with people when you need their help to get out of the trouble you've got yourself into."

In mitigation, Giles Nelson said Davies, of no fixed abode, had been using heroin since she was eight. "She has had a lot of problems in her life and has not dealt with these problems, and has been using drugs to a very high degree," he said.

Of Mr Williams, Mr Nelson said: "She does not want anything to do with him."