A British bride-to-be says she was left heartbroken after her fiance faked his own death to avoid their impending marriage.

Twenty-three-year-old Alex Lanchester says she received a phone call months before her planned marriage to Tucker Blandford claiming he had been killed in a car accident.

In the call - made by Blandford himself pretending to be his own father - Lanchester was told her partner had "been deeply depressed and wanted to die, so had thrown himself in front of a car".

The man explained that they had been trying to send Tucker off to a psychiatric unit for help. But it was too late. I couldn't breathe. It was absolutely devastating. Alex Lanchester

The 23-year-old says she may never enter a relationship again. Credit: SWNS

However, after calling Blandford's parents she soon discovered that her American fiance was in fact alive and well. He had told his family that the pair had split up when Lanchester returned home to the UK.

"He has shattered my trust and I'm not sure I'll ever be in a relationship again," she said.

"All I ever did was love him. I'm so sick of being messed around and I'm glad to be rid of him."

The pair had met while Lanchester, from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, had been studying abroad at Connecticut University.

She described him as a "gentleman" in the early stages of their relationship, and said she had "never been in love like that before".

Blandford proposed last year when Lanchester was due to return to the UK. Credit: SWNS

Their nuptials were planned at the campus on which they met. "I couldn't think of a more romantic place to tie the knot," she said.

A date was set for last Friday before Blandford's deception ended it all.

The set painter has since admitted lying, and said he "just felt like I couldn't tell the truth".