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THE bride posed proudly on her big day with the groom on one side and long-lost dad on the other.

But seven years later wife Jane left her husband...for her FATHER.

Now the 36-year-old is riddled with shame over their incestuous affair.

But she confesses she couldn’t stop ­herself falling madly in love with her dad, now 56, and having sex with him for two-and-a-half years.

Britain will be shocked by Jane’s story but she has decided to speak out in a bid to help others who might find themselves in a similar disturbing situation – and warn them not to get involved.

Jane – not her real name – has to remain anonymous for fear of the impact on her family and because incest is illegal.

Wiping away tears, she said: “Before this happened, if someone had said to me they were in this type of relationship, I would have said they were sickos.

“But my emotions were explosive and I couldn’t control them. I knew what we were doing was wrong but my feelings for him were so strong I couldn’t stop myself.

“Our relationship was incredibly intense and the fact it had to be kept a secret made it more exciting. But it destroyed me and I will always be ashamed.

“I hope others in my situation will realise it’s not a one-off. But I hope it also gives them courage to walk away from their ­feelings and not act upon them like I did.”

Jane met her biological father for the first time when she was around 16.

She had been a baby when he walked out on her and her mum.

Cherished

Jane spent an unhappy childhood with her mother and a stepdad.

When she was 11, her teenage cousin gave her a photo of her real dad.

Jane recalled: “My mum never talked about him. I knew she wouldn’t approve of the photo so I hid it under my bed. I would take it out, gaze at him and will him to come and rescue me. I cherished it. But Mum found it and I never saw it again.”

By the time she was 13, the relationship with her mum and stepdad had broken down and Jane was put into care.

Three years later, she left the children’s home and was living in a bedsit when her cousin found out where her real dad Robert – whose name we have also changed – was working as a security guard.

She said: “I walked into the reception of the building and asked to see my dad.

“He was charming and produced a photo of me when I was six. My mum had sent it to his mother. He said he never forgot me.”

Jane, still estranged from her mum, ­became close to Robert and his wife, who remarked how similar they looked.

She said: “My father would often tell me he loved me – he made me feel wanted for the first time in my life.”

Jane fell pregnant by a boyfriend a year later and they married and moved from south Wales to the south of England.

But in 1999 Jane, then 23, divorced her husband and returned to Wales.

She got an office job, started dating ­engineer Steve – not his real name – and fell pregnant.

She also got back in touch with her dad. Jane recalled: “We were getting on well.”

Although Jane says her dad was ­“attractive” she insists she didn’t fancy him sexually – but psychologists now recognise a phenomenon called Genetic Sexual Attraction between relatives separated at birth who meet later in life.

Jane married a second time in 2001 and this time her dad gave her away. She had two more kids and became a ­driving instructor. In March 2007, her father ­accompanied her to a seminar at a hotel in the north of England and on the second night they had a lot to drink.

She said: “I noticed my dad seemed jealous of me talking to other men and he stormed off to his room.

“I’ve never been able to let anything lie so I went to confront him. I walked into his room and he said, ‘I’m in love with you’. He just came out with it.

“It was such a shock I almost fell to the floor. I had never, ever thought he felt that way. I left the room and next day we drove home in silence.

“A few days afterwards I went to see my dad and said I wanted to forget what had happened. I didn’t feel disgusted with him, I just felt sorry for him.

“From then on he used to cry on my shoulder. His talk was sometimes sexual – he would cry as he told me what he would do when he was thinking of me, but I told him I didn’t want to hear.”

Passionate

By December 2007, Jane began to develop feelings for her dad. She said: “He was very charismatic and ­charming, which made him more attractive.

“I began to fall for him emotionally at first but then I began to fancy him.

“It was very confusing and I tried to suppress my feelings but in the end I had to tell him how I felt. I asked to meet him in my car between lessons. I was shaking. I knew it was wrong. I told him I was in love with him but didn’t want to be. He was delighted.”

Jane and Robert met again a week later in a church car park, where they joked about the sin they were ­committing and shared their first kiss.

She said: “Despite knowing that ­loving my father in this way was ­completely wrong, it felt right. Although part of me knew it was against all the rules, the kiss was very passionate.”

Within weeks, Jane had sex with Robert for the first time when he ­invited her home when his wife was out.

She said: “We went in the spare room. I didn’t want to go to his ­bedroom because it was weird enough. After I had sex with my father I knew I was totally in love because it had never been like that before. It was amazing. I had found my soulmate at last.”

Within weeks Robert left his wife without telling her he was sleeping with his daughter.

Jane then realised her marriage was over and asked Steve, who was working in England, not to return home.

She said: “I was besotted. We knew it was wrong but we thought we could keep it a secret.”

In June 2008 Jane asked her father to move in and they started sleeping together a few times a week. Jane said: “My dad made me feel important. He told me how clever and funny and pretty I was. We spent the night in a hotel a few times.

“My dad worshipped me and it was the best relationship I had ever had.

“I would get butterflies before I saw him because I was so excited. We were just like any other couple, apart from the fact he was my father.”

Jane insisted they always used ­protection when they slept together.

She said: “I was never going to have a child with my dad because something could be wrong with that child.

“It would also be proof of what we did and how could I tell that child?”

But the incestuous relationship grew sour. Jane said: “My father began ­hitting me in front of my four kids.

“He gave up his job and was sponging off me. He was drinking heavily.

“I couldn’t take any more, so when he was at a pal’s house I took all his clothes there and threw them on the lawn.”

But after kicking him out in June 2009, Jane took revenge when he moved back in with his wife.

She said: “It was like a stake through my heart. I called her and told her we had been having an affair. But he ­denied it and she believed him.”

Disgusting

With rumours now circulating in the town where they lived, Robert lied to his wife, their daughter and his friends their fling had been a drunk one-off.

She said: “My dad told everyone I had seduced him. Friends I had known for ages told me I was disgusting.”

Jane was forced to flee the town and her life quickly unravelled.

She said: “I just couldn’t live without my father. I was put on anti-depressants and I lost my business.”

Jane’s father began to visit her again and they continued to sleep together until the middle of 2010.

She said: “It finished after my dad punched me in the face.”

When she saw a counsellor last year she became convinced her dad had seduced her and went to police.

The couple were both arrested and questioned in July 2011 but Jane ­refused to incriminate herself on legal advice and the case was dropped.

Jane decided to tell her two eldest children, 18 and 15, about her ­illicit affair but not the two youngest.

She said: “They reacted so well. They hated granddad but still loved me.”

She has not seen her dad since the affair ended.

Jane said: “I don’t hate him, I’m ­indifferent towards him. I never want to see him again.” Robert told The People: “I don’t want to talk about this.”

A South Wales Police spokesman said: “Two people were arrested on suspicion of incest last July. They were not charged.”

vikki.white@people.co.uk