Woman who started new relationship with brother-in-law after husband died on sofa speaks out

A widow who was criticised by her husband’s family for starting a relationship with his brother just weeks after his death has admitted she “made a mistake”.

Ashlee Murrell’s husband Michael died in May while sleeping on the sofa after a fight.

She said she was devastated that the last words the couple exchanged were in anger and urged others to cherish their loved ones.

The 33-year-old, from Wellington in Somerset, had been upset at how long Michael had been working at his carpet cleaning business after he returned home from a 16-hour shift, the Sun reported.

She did not know he had been working extra hard to save money for a surprise trip to Prague for their anniversary.

She said: “I felt so guilty. I was so angry with myself for making him sleep on the sofa. I still find it so hard to think that my last words to him were out of anger.

“When I found out he’d been saving to take us on an anniversary holiday it was awful – heartbreaking doesn’t begin to cover it.”

But in the weeks following his death she began a relationship with his brother, Chris.

Following a backlash from her husband’s family she initially insisted the relationship was fake because it comforted her three children but she later admitted their relationship had become romantic.

She said: “We became close and fell in love, it was never planned but it’s happened and it feels right. I will never ever forget my beautiful husband but life is too short to miss out on happiness.”

The new couple faced death threats, with Ms Murrell telling the Mail Online that people had "even said said they're coming for my kids and going to take out a contract to kill me and Chris".

She said she had even been accused of suffocating Michael.

But she has now ended the relationship, writing a message to her dead husband on his Facebook wall.

She wrote: “You will always be in my heart Mikey and I know I've made a mistake, and I promise you that when my time comes I'm coming home to you.

“Miss you uncontrollably xx.”