Originally published 2 January 2011;
Mother’s intuition made Mandy Crowther suspect her son Ashley’s flirty 16-year-old girlfriend would set her sights on another target – but she never imagined it would be her own husband, Stan.
But 42-year-old Stan started an affair with Rachael Delaney, now 18, behind his wife and stepson Ashley’s backs, and the couple are now expecting a baby.
Now Mandy says she’s moving on with her life – thanks to a surprising obsession with EastEnders star Shane Richie.
42-year-old Stan started an affair with Rachael Delaney, now 18, behind his wife and stepson Ashley’s backs
Mandy reveals: “Shane’s so lovely and good-looking, he’s the man for me now. I’d rather have him than Stan any day!”
Mum-of-two Mandy, 43, from Chorley, Lancashire, married Stan in August 2003. Stan happily took on Mandy’s sons – Ashley, now 23, and Joshua, 15 – as his own.
“My boys called him Dad,” says Mandy. “He was brilliant with them and they were always messing around together.”
Then in July 2009, Ashley, a mechanic, started going out with Rachael, then 16. Ashley and Rachael soon moved in together, with Rachael starting work as a receptionist at the tattoo parlour Stan ran.
When Mandy visited the tattoo parlour, she was amused to see her husband and Rachael play-fighting. “But nothing struck me as unusual,” she says.
It was Ashley who first grew suspicious of the pair’s close relationship, after spotting them laughing and joking in Stan’s car.
“He thought something was going on but I told him not to be daft,” Mandy remembers.
Two weeks later, Ashley texted his mum to say he’d rowed with Rachael and she’d stormed out. Coincidentally, Stan had also just walked out after he and Mandy had argued. “Then Ashley rang and said he’d seen them in the car together,” Mandy remembers. “Everything suddenly added up. I realised how secretive Stan had been with his phone. I was crying with anger.”
After their affair was exposed – Rachael announced she was pregnant with Stan’s baby
The next day Mandy stormed over to Ashley and Rachael’s house and demanded Rachael hand over her phone.
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“There were texts from both of them saying ‘I love you’ and ‘I want to be with you,’” Mandy recalls. “At first Stan denied everything but I didn’t believe a word of it – as far as I was concerned we were finished.”
Last June – two months after their affair was exposed – Rachael announced she was pregnant with Stan’s baby.
She’s due to give birth next month and Mandy is now in the process of divorcing Stan.
Meanwhile, Mandy says she’s getting her life back on track thanks to the help of one man who’s unlikely to cause her any trouble – EastEnders heart-throb Shane Richie.
Mandy has 60 framed photos of Shane in her home, wears a locket containing his photo, and even has a Shane Richie duvet and bedside lamps. But the most extreme is her car, which is covered with a £1,000 laminate made up of Shane’s face.
Her obsession started when Shane began playing Alfie Moon in EastEnders in 2002 and despite having never met her idol, Mandy says: “People might think I’m a bit of a crank but it’s my way of getting over Stan.
“I don’t want another man after all that’s happened. Shane’s the only one for me.”