THE partner of Sadie Hartley said he would forever regret texting Sarah Williams, the woman who would go on to stab the business woman more than 40 times after becoming ‘infatuated’ with him.

Ian Johnston, a former watch manager at Rawtenstall Fire Station, said in an emotional interview with the Lancashire Telegraph, that his reputation has been left in tatters after going through ‘eight months of hell’ because of his links to Williams.

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The 57-year-old said he met Williams at the Chill Factore in Manchester in 2012 and had a brief relationship with her.

But that fling never coincided with his relationship with Ms Hartley, and he had never seen or spoken to Williams since the day after she sent a letter to his girlfriend in September 2014 claiming they were having an affair.

Breaking down on numerous occasions, he said Miss Hartley’s family had had no contact with him since they learned of her murder.

Mr Johnston, a team member of the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team, said: “I shall regret my actions in responding to Sarah Williams in the form of texts. I was foolish. I was unwittingly naive. I had absolutely no inkling whatsoever, that this 17-18 months of planning, to assassinate Sadie was actually in being.

“There’s obvious responsibility because in it’s simplest terms if I’d never met Sarah Williams she wouldn’t have been put in this position where she’s gone ahead and murdered Sadie. I’ll never know what her motivation for that is.

“For me to carry some form of guilt, for her responsibility, I just find is, especially when it’s proven that I’ve never, since the letter, ever met her, phone-called, planned, but been foolish to send and respond to some texts, is harsh from that ... I absolutely wish I’d never, ever met her.”

Mr Johnston, who said he is now living near Helmshore, refuted claims by Williams that he was only with Miss Hartley for her money. But he did admit he was now in a weaker financial position after selling his own home in Helmshore to move in to her £500,000 home in Sunnybank ‘as a show of commitment’ to their relationship.

He also said he had been left out of her will, something he only learned when a juror asked about the situation during the seven-week trial.

Mr Johnston described responding to texts from Williams as a ‘moment of weakness’ when his mum was dying in 2014. He rejected Williams’ claims in court that he sent her any images of himself and said she stalked his dying mum and brother.

He said Williams was ‘delusional’ and a ‘psychopath’ and that he was ‘absolutely and utterly appalled at her lack of emotion while she gave evidence’.

Mr Johnston said: “I was vulnerable and I think she took advantage of that. Bearing in mind this had been planned for 18 months, well 17, 18 months. And I’ve been told repeatedly by the police there was nothing I could have done to even recognise this was happening or that, in fact that this murder would happen.”

When asked about Williams’ co-defendant Katrina Walsh, Mr Johnston said: “At best she’s been a patsy. She’s gone along with it, thinking she’s helping her mate out and her mate’s got some sway over her. At worst she’s lying through her teeth.

“She’s of the same ilk as Williams and knew exactly what she was getting into. And I think they’re cowards. I think the pair of them are absolute bottom drawer, as worse as you can get, cowards. They can’t accept the truth, won’t accept the truth.”

Mr Johnson described Miss Hartley as ‘a fantastic mother’ who was ‘kind’, ‘generous’, ‘fun loving’, ‘bold’ and someone who ‘didn’t suffer fools lightly’. He said their relationship was like ‘cocoa and Kindles’.

He added: “I’ll survive. I’ve got incredibly good, very, very kind friends and my brother and my daughter. Everybody is looking out for me. Nobody has said a bad word to me about this.

“My daughter has just been, I can’t tell you...for a 24-year-old girl that’s mine, what she’s had to put up with, what she’s had to listen to about her father, to sit in court and watch that cross examination and to still stand firmly and squarely behind me, is just, outstanding.

“And again, my brother, right behind me, pragmatic, solid.”