A mother who left her husband and three children for a toy boy, a Masai warrior in Kenya, has shared her deep regrets about the marriage. Cheryl Thomasgood,65, decided to leave her second husband and move into a mud hut with Daniel Lekimencho, who was 10 years her junior, after falling in love with him on a package holiday.
She was enamoured by his charisma and spirituality, and decided to leave her children behind on the Isle of Wight for a life in the remote Samburu region of Kenya when she was 34 years old in 1994. The mother of three immersed herself in Daniel’s culture, which included living in a mud hut, cooking on open fires and eating traditional Masai food.
However, cracks in the relationship quickly started to form after the couple returned to the Isle of Wight in 1995.
It started promisingly as they got married on Valentine’s Day wearing traditional Masai clothing, Cheryl reunited with her children, and they had another daughter, Mitsi, a year later, but she says the relationship quickly started to unravel.
Daniel, once grounded in Masai tradition and who previously performed dances for tourists, where he met Cheryl at the Bamburi Beach Hotel in Mombasa, reportedly became increasingly concerned with material wealth and status.
Cheryl told MailOnline: “I felt like I was just a meal ticket. I made a huge mistake, and I have a lot of regrets.”
She claims that Daniel began chasing a bigger home, designer clothes and money to send home to relatives in Kenya.
She admitted: “The biggest regret of all was the impact on my children. Daniel tried, but he couldn’t be the father they needed. They missed out on having a stable male figure.”
The couple split just four years after they married, which she believes was prompted by cultural differences and the pressures of assimilating into British life.
Cheryl now realises her life-changing decision was driven by a desire to find spiritual healing for her childhood trauma, but the spiritual connection that she and Daniel once had faded as the arguments grew.
Now 65 and living in a seaside town in Somerset, she is at peace with her decision and has strong relationships with all four of her children: Steve, 43, Tommy, 41, Chloe, 34, and Mitsi, 27.
However, the mum said she would never get married again and urged anyone pursuing a holiday romance to “be careful” as they could end up “regretting it for the rest of their lives.”
She described Mitsi as “the one good thing” from the relationship, but called her three marriages a “hat-trick of disasters”.
Daniel remained in the UK after their separation and now works in a supermarket on the Isle of Wight.
