READING the words on her phone: “I don’t want to hurt you”, Sarah’s heart dropped to her stomach.

Her husband of 15 years, David, 41, had texted to break up with her.

Portrait of a worried mature woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a brown shirt and standing with arms crossed.Sarah was cruelly dumped by her husband who ran off with her daughter, who he helped raise Credit: Getty Couple walking hand in hand through a sunlit field.David and Jess have now left Sarah’s home and moved in together Credit: Getty

And David was not just leaving Sarah, 47 — he was dumping her for her daughter Jess, 26, whom he had raised since she was 11 and walked down the aisle months earlier.

Sarah said: “David walked down the road holding her hand when she was a little girl, but he’s going to be in her bed tonight. How can I ever get over that?

“The damage it has done to this family is unfathomable.

“Whenever I would tell someone the story, they would say, ‘I’m sure that’s illegal’.

“I researched it and it isn’t, but how the hell can it be legal for a step-parent who has been influential in a child’s life to do this?”

In England and Wales, the Act 1949 prohibits marriage between a former step-parent and step-child.

The Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act 1986 amended this to prohibit marriage only where the stepchild was raised as a child in the family home. However, this does not prohibit a step-parent and a step-child from entering into a sexual relationship if they are over the age of 18.

In , under Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, it is a criminal offence for a step-parent to have sexual intercourse with a step-child if they grew up in the family home, or are under the age of 21.

Sarah is now campaigning to have this law extended to cover England and Wales.

David came into Sarah’s life in 2010 and immediately took on the role of father figure to all four of her kids.

“He said to me, ‘Let me be their dad’, it was quite a powerful moment,” Sarah told the Talk To The Press website.

“They would get him Father’s Day cards. He was very influential in their life.”

Silhouette of a woman using her smartphone at a desk with a coffee cup in a dimly lit room.Jess is refusing to acknowledge that David is manipulating and controlling her Credit: Getty A young couple walking in a rural setting, holding hands.Sarah texted David to accuse him of pursuing her daughter and he admitted the relationship Credit: Getty

In 2011, David and Sarah got ­married before welcoming a child together, who is now 14.

When Jess got married in January 2025 David walked her down the aisle alongside her biological father.

He even gave a father of the bride speech.

But by August that year, Sarah told how Jess was having marriage troubles and had started drinking a lot. As a result, David would often go to her house to help out and Sarah noticed Jess had started calling him “David” instead of “Dad”.

Another warning sign came in October, when Jess got drunk one night and said to her mum, “If I did something terrible, would you still love me?”

Sarah said: “As a mother, I told her, ‘There’s very little you could do that would stop me loving you’.”

Two days later, Jess came over to Sarah and David’s house to spend the night, and Sarah spent the evening brushing her hair and chatting to her to cheer her up.

But during the night, David encouraged Sarah to put Jess in their bed next to her, because she could not .

Silhouette of a woman in front of a window.Sarah’s mental health deteriorated rapidly, leaving her unable to eat Credit: Getty A concerned woman sits on a couch, holding a smartphone and looking at it with a worried expression.Sarah said her other children feel extremely conflicted by the situation as the family lines have been blurred Credit: Getty

And alarm bells began ringing when Sarah woke and saw him staring at her daughter.

Sarah said: “I just wanted to ­comfort her but at about 4am, I turned around and caught him staring at her lovingly. I sensed something was going on between them.”

The next morning, Sarah texted David to accuse him of pursuing her daughter and he admitted the relationship.

Horrified, Sarah asked why had put her in their bed.

She was stunned when David answered: “So you had one last chance to be her mum before you don’t want to be any more.”

David and Jess have now left Sarah’s home and moved in together.

While Sarah has tried to explain to Jess that David is manipulating and controlling her, her messages have fallen on deaf ears.

Meanwhile Sarah’s deteriorated rapidly, leaving her unable to eat. She was so traumatised that she lost 3st in two months and ended up hospitalised.

And she told how she is now tormented by the thought that if David and Jess were to have a child, their baby would be Sarah’s children’s half-sibling, as well as their niece or nephew. She said: “It would be so devastating.”

Sarah said her other children feel extremely conflicted by the situation because the family lines have been ­horrifyingly blurred. She has also spoken to her local MP, started a petition, and hopes to have the issue debated in ­Parliament.

She went on: “My goal is to change the law. Something that is this harmful for families cannot be allowed to happen.”

  • All names have been changed. You can sign Sarah’s petition using the link here