Poor Mr. Gibbons....oooh! I hope Marie is alive and well.
(You can see apicture of Mr. Gibbons and Marie at
http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.1092915.0.where_has_my_wife_gone.php)

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WHERE HAS MY WIFE GONE?
A NEWLYWED has spent an anxious Christmas waiting for his wife to get in
touch from The Gambia.

John Gibbons, of Grosvenor Gardens, Boscombe, wed Gambian Marie Jatta last
month in the West African country.

After the wedding he returned to the UK planning to earn enough money to
bring his wife over to live in his flat in Bournemouth but Mr Gibbons has
heard nothing from her in the last two weeks.

Mr Gibbons, 57, said: "If she has changed her mind and thinks marrying me
was a mistake, why doesn't she text and let me know?"

Mr Gibbons met his wife six years ago while on holiday in The Gambia when
she was working in a bar. Now Marie Jatta, 25, is a full-time student
studying computers and technology.

Mr Gibbons has visited The Gambia several times and they decided to get
married.

After the wedding, before returning to Bournemouth, Mr Gibbons found
accommodation for his bride and gave her enough money to live on for the
next few months.

Initially they were in contact through telephone calls and e-mails.

Ms Jatta, who speaks good English, French and her native language Wolof,
asked him to send more money saying that she had spent what he gave her on
college fees.

Her last e-mail criticised Mr Gibbons for not being grateful to her family
but was signed off love u'.

Mr Gibbons is now worried for her safety because since December 13 his
e-mails and text messages have gone unanswered.

He said that he had a message from her college saying she had not returned
as she should have done on December 11 despite being just a few weeks away
from gaining her qualifications.

Mr Gibbon's desperate enquiries to friends in Gambia have not had any
response.

He has also contacted the embassy, the police and Interpol, who are unable
to help.

He said: "I don't know if there is something they don't want to tell me."

Mr Gibbons wants to go back to The Gambia to discover what has happened
but at the moment does not have the money.

He said: "The wedding cost me £5,000 and I am still paying that back. At
the moment I am on the dole but I am hoping to start work as a shopfitter
in January. I think it will be March before I have enough money to go
back."

Mr Gibbons, who has been married before, is unable to start the process of
getting a visa for his wife to come to the UK because she has not yet sent
him the wedding certificate.

He realises that she might be daunted by a trip to the UK having never
been on a plane before.

He said: "I am not in the business of forcing anyone. She knew that if she
came over and did not like it I would take her back to Gambia and we would
work something out."

Mr Gibbons was hoping to have children with his new wife. He said: "Marie
said she wanted to start a family with me which really sealed the deal."

But for the moment all Mr Gibbons has are his wedding photos.


9:38am today



By Lynn Morris

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