| The Dream Solution
- Articles |
25/07/92
- Parents forgive cheating John
By Olga Craig
Today
EACH morning Breda Blackmore wakes with one thought — "for
Alison's sake we must stick by John." The vicious murder
of a cherished daughter is an unbearable grief, but Breda carries
an even more incredible anguish.
It was her son-in-law's lover that knifed Alison repeatedly until
she lay bleeding and her precious life slowly ebbed away. And
yet astonishingly Breda does not hate the son-in-law whose adultery
lead to the murder. "We love John. He is part of our family,"
she says simply.
"He adored Alison and Alison loved him so much." Every
day for the past three weeks Breda and husband Bobby have sat
in the Old Bailey and listened to the sordid details of John O'Shaughnessy's
secret affair with Michelle Taylor. But still the family have
no trace of hatred in their hearts. "How could we turn against
John now," Breda says in her soft Southern Irish lilt.
"Alison loved him so much. He made her so happy for the five
years they were together. To start hating him now would be to
destroy all that happiness. "I will allow nothing nor no-one
to rob Alison of the happiness of her wedding day and those five
wonderful years she had with John.
Alison worshipped him. She would have forsaken her own family
for John. He betrayed her but we believed Alison knew nothing
of that. "Of course we can't condone what John did. He was
weak, we know that. But what is to be gained now by hating?"
Everywhere in their top floor flat in a North London road there
are mementos of Alison, her favourite doll, photographs and her
drawings and poems.
And to seal their bond with their son-in-law, Breda and Bobby
invited him to move in with them when he couldn't face returning
to the Battersea flat the young couple shared. John is treated
like one of the family but they realise the day will come when
he moves out.
Even John is surprised by the reactions of his in-laws. "They
have been wonderful to me," he said. "They know I have
made a mistake and had an affair with another woman while I was
married to their daughter.
"They know that I have a moral responsibility for what happened
to Alison yet they have stood firmly behind me and given me true
love and support. They have been truly wonderful. "In them
I can see the wonderful spirit and nature of the girl I married."
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