Looking back on her whirlwind romance with Mohamed Ibrahim, who at 38 was 46 years younger than her, Iris Jones is astonished that she agreed to marry him just days after their first meeting in November 2019.
Iris, 84, was convinced their relationship was the real thing and that they’d defy the sceptics who thought he was just after her for her money.
But nearly four years later, in June 2023, after a string of toxic rows over finances and housework, their relationship unravelled, and she dumped him, The Sun reported.
Now she’s looking for a new man and consoling another woman who claims Mohamed betrayed her too.
Iris, who has two sons, Stephen, 57, and Darren, 56, tells the Sun, “I’m so glad I got rid of Mohamed.
“A couple of weeks ago I was contacted out of the blue by another woman through Facebook – she’s a pensioner too and a grandmother and was furious that she’d been taken for a ride by Mohamed.
“He’d moved pretty much straight from my bungalow in Weston Super Mare to her house in Leeds and I didn’t feel a shred of jealousy or regret. I just felt sorry for her.
“Their ‘romance’ followed the same path as mine. Wild over the top gestures at the beginning, bringing armfuls of flowers to the first meeting, promising the world, proposing within days. He even acted the same towards us in the bedroom!
“And then a gradual decline in the relationship, until you finally realise he’s nothing but a money grabber. He probably likes to think we’re fighting over him – in reality we’re both relieved to be rid of him – though she’s feeling pretty raw over it. I’m indifferent to him.
“But I want to warn other women about the way he works before they’re duped by him too. I’ve always thought I’m pretty savvy but I was taken in by his ‘charm’.
“I’m going onwards and upwards. I’d like a new man for Christmas – this time he’ll be solvent, handsome, slim, close to my age, have his own home, and in an ideal world I’d like a man in uniform – so pretty much the opposite to Mohamed!
“I’m already chatting to a lovely man in Wales, who’s 76, so still younger and we chat about everything from the cost of living to Brexit – he’s very educated and interesting.”
Iris met Mohamed through an atheist group on Facebook in June 2019.
They soon started private messaging each other and in November 2019 she went to visit him for the first time after she told him she’d always wanted to see the pyramids and he invited me to stay.
She remembers, “He arrived at the airport with a bunch of roses and swept me off my feet.
“The first night we made love and it felt incredible. It was like being a virgin again – I hadn’t had sex since I divorced my first husband 27 years before.
“He kept telling me how much he loved me and wanted to marry me, right from the beginning.”
Iris ended up staying for a month, and Mohamed proposed while she was there.
She carried on visiting him and they got married in October 2020 in Egypt and Mohamed came to live in England in November 2021.
And to start with their relationship was happy, Mohamed got a job in their local supermarket as a security guard, he paid Iris housekeeping and they still made love regularly and at other times would curl up and watch documentaries together.
Iris says, “We had some good times, but I think then I was still infatuated and was wearing rose tinted glasses so I ignored the bad parts.
“I wonder now whether I ever really loved him.
“This January we started rowing, about him not helping round the house. And money – he wanted me to leave him my bungalow in my will – but that was always going to be for the boys.
“He started being very money grabbing and I realised that was all he was interested in.
“He’d already had thousands from me to enable him to get a visa and we spent a fortune when I visited him in Egypt. He never opened his wallet. Our relationship became toxic and I knew I had to end it.”
In June Iris threw Mohamed out. She got a cat and swore off men for good.
Mohamed has since refuted claims he was only after her money and stated that Iris used him as a sex slave – which Iris denies. He also claims the other woman is lying and that he was merely her lodger.
Iris adds, “Mohamed took my money and now he’s done it again to another woman. He met her for the first time with white roses, swept her off her feet, proposed marriage and then disappeared for two days.
“The poor woman has forked out thousands on keeping him, letting him stay in her house and has got nothing to show for it apart from some clothes he left behind and a new bed he insisted she bought. It’s shocking the way he operates and he’s probably already looking for his next victim.”
But now, six months on, Iris feels ready for a new man in her life.
She says, “It would be nice to have someone to snuggle up with for Christmas. I like having a man in my life. I’ve felt such a relief without Mohamed, it’s been so peaceful just me and my cat, Mohamed hated them, so it was the first thing I got when I chucked him out.
“But I still love male company – so I’m prepared to try again!”
Mohammed was approached by Fabulous but declined to comment.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission