Background Information

It was at the wedding of Christine, (Eddies sister) that Eddie met Paula Carbert. They hit it off straight away and became engaged. Twelve months later, in June 1989, they were married. For the first two years of their marriage they lived in a modest terraced house that they purchased in Sherlock Lane, Wallasey, Wirral. They were a very happy and contented couple.

In June 1991, they bought their second home in Grafton Drive, Upton, Wirral. A substantial 3 bedroom semi-detached house in a quiet residential area, close to Upton Village. At the time, Paula worked on the assembly line at the local Champion Spark Plug Factory and Eddie was employed as a Theatre Assistant at the local BUPA hospital named Murrayfield. His main job was sterilising the operating theatre instruments.

The house needed a good deal of renovation work and the couple moved into Paula's parents home while the work was undertaken. This arrangement did not suit Eddie and after a period of about two months, Eddie moved into Grafton Drive as the remaining work was in effect, largely 'cosmetic' Unusually, Paula refused to move into the house with him and made it clear that she would not move in until the house was finished to what could only be described as 'showroom standard'.

It was during this period that Paula decided to go on holiday to Turkey with her mother, Joan Carbert and Paula's best friend Julie Poole who was accompanied by her young child. Paula had decided that her and her mother needed a holiday but this caused some upset between Eddie and Paula as Eddie thought the money spent on the holiday would have been better spent on refurbishing the new house. Eddie remained at home working on the house whilst Paula went off on holiday to Turkey.

On her return Paula remained living at her parents house whilst Eddie lived at the new house in Grafton Drive. In order to speed up the work, his father Norman Gilfoyle, helped out with the decoration of the property and Eddie also paid his friend, David Mallion, to do various jobs in the house. Eddie says that Paula would call in to the house for an hour or so after she had finished work to see how the decorating was progressing. The couple would have the odd night out together, and on the odd occasion, Eddie would stay overnight with Paula at her parents home.

But the situation was far from ideal and the couples relationship began to suffer. In a fairly short space of time Eddie and his father managed to complete one bedroom, and a dining/sitting room. They then transformed the kitchen and the bathroom to a luxurious standard. But, Paula still refused to move into the house. Paula remained at her parents home for a further three months.

It was during this time that Eddie struck up a friendship with Sandra Davies, a woman who worked in the canteen at Eddies place of work. Both Eddie and Sandra (and you might think unusually so, the police) have all stated that this relationship was not a 'physical relationship'. It must be said though, that it may have developed further had it not been for the events that later transpired. Eddie and Sandra never saw each other outside work. Eddie admits to kissing her once on the cheek. Sandra Davies was also having problems in her own marriage and it seems that Sandra and Eddie became a sympathetic ear for each other with regard to their separate marital problems. Eddie was receiving some attention and companionship from Sandra that was sadly lacking at home. Eddie tried everything to get Paula to move back home with him, but she still rejected him. At one point he even threatened to see a solicitor to begin separation proceedings. She took no heed to his pleading.

Eventually towards the end of October 1991, Eddie had given up all hope of Paula returning to him and the marriage. He asked Sandra to move into the house at Grafton Drive and live with him. Sandra agreed to do this. He told Paula of his intentions and asked her to call to Grafton Drive and to collect what few items of hers that were there in the new house.

Paula arrived at Grafton Drive and an emotional scene took place. She announced to Eddie that she was pregnant and stated that she had conceived the baby on one of the odd occasions that they had both stayed together overnight at her parents house. Eddie says that at this point he realised that it was Paula whom he loved and wanted to be with. With the baby now on the way, the relationship took on the face of it a new beginning.

He telephoned Sandra Davies and told her of his wifes pregnancy. Sandra was understandably upset, as she believed that Eddie had separated from his wife, which to all intent and purpose had been true. He explained to her that he intended to try and make his marriage work. Paula also spoke to Sandra on the telephone and told her in no uncertain terms to keep away from her husband.

For a time Eddie thought that he and Paula had patched up their differences and the couple seemed to be happy. Paula had returned to the marriage and both parties were at last living together at Grafton Drive.

During the following four months or so the atmosphere at work between Eddie and Sandra was uncomfortable, as Sandra quite naturally felt very bitter towards Eddie for ending the relationship. In an effort to remove the tension between them both, Eddie sent Sandra a Valentine Card and a Birthday Card to show her that they could still be friends and get along together in the work place. Sandra's birthday is around Valentines Day and both cards were given at the same time.

The following April 1992, and completely out of the blue, Paula wrote Eddie a letter. In this letter she stated that the baby she was having was not Eddies. She stated that she had been having an affair for the past 14 months with a man called "Nigel." Furthermore she stated that Nigel was the father of the baby and that she was leaving Eddie to go and live abroad with Nigel.

Following his wifes disclosure, Eddie went into work extremely distressed. He needed somebody to share this traumatic news with and he thought that Sandra would understand the situation he now found himself in and confided in her by showing her the "Nigel letter" Sandra read the "Nigel letter," and showed it to her friend. She then returned the letter to Eddie and made it obvious that she was not prepared to become involved in Eddies marital problems.

With nobody else to turn to, Eddie approached his boss at work and asked if he could go home. She asked him what was wrong, at which point Eddie broke down and revealed to her that his wife had told him that the baby she was having was not his. It was obvious that Eddie was unable to continue his duties and he was allowed to go home.

However, Paula did not leave home with Nigel straight away. She told Eddie on more than one occasion that she would be leaving on a certain day. But that day would come and go and she still did not leave. Then she would say she was leaving the following week and so on. This situation continued for several weeks with Eddie not knowing when Paula was going to leave him. It seems that as time went on, he secretly hoped that she would change her mind and stay with him. In fact, the longer it went on, the more Eddie began to think that maybe what Paula was saying about Nigel was not the truth. Maybe she was just saying these things to get back at him for his relationship with Sandra. Maybe the baby was his after all. Eddie couldnt make sense of the situation he had now found himself in.

Unusually, Paula asked Eddie not to tell anyone about the fact that she was leaving with Nigel until after she had gone and left the country. Reluctantly, Eddie agreed to do this. He tried every way he could to make Paula happy and the longer she stayed with him the more he felt that his attempts to keep her were going to be successful.

Then, on Tuesday the 2nd of June 1991, just two days before Paula died, she dropped another bombshell on Eddie. That evening she told Eddie that she believed that the real father of her baby was in fact her brother-in-law, a man called Peter Glover. In effect, she had used the name Nigel as a pseudonym for Peter Glover.

Peter Glover is married to Paula's sister, Margaret. Paula was distraught when she told Eddie all this and made Eddie promise faithfully not to tell a living soul. She also told Eddie that there was also still a chance that the baby may be Eddies as they did sleep together around Eddies birthday, which would be approximately the date when the baby was conceived. However, she did not think so, she was more convinced that the father would be Peter Glover.

Because of the emotional state that Paula was in when she revealed all this to Eddie, he agreed that he would promise not to tell anyone what she had disclosed. Eddie needed time to think. They talked late into the night and tried to find a solution to what must have been an enormous problem in the marriage. Eddie loved Paula and wanted to stay with her, but he was clearly at his wits end about what to do. The baby could be his, but there again may not be his. Eddie realised that if they were to stay together it would be impossible for them both to carry on living so close to Paula's family. He told Paula that he still loved her and still wanted her. They both agreed to stay together but to move away from the area. They would try to stay together and provide a loving stable home for the baby. Eddie told Paula that as long as there was a chance that he may be the father of the unborn child, he would try to bring the baby up as his own. Nobody need know that he may not be the childs father.

Eddie rang his brother, David Gilfoyle. David was a Hotel Manager in Bournemouth. He asked David if he could arrange accommodation for two friends who would be moving into the Bournemouth area in a few weeks time. He told David that these two friends had a young baby. He also asked David if he could help in finding a job for his friend. David agreed to do what he could to help. David was unaware that the accommodation was in fact for Eddie, Paula and the prospective child.