Things were good for 19 years with Karen Dineen and Terry Lovell. Karen was happy with her builder husband until she found out his big secret… And her world came crashing down. She didn’t immediately confront her husband but rather waited to gather more evidence. But, her suspicions that something was wrong only escalated.
This led to a shocking discovery that would inspire a plan of revenge. This is the story of how Karen Dineen discovered her husband’s infidelity and got her revenge in the best way possible. Now, four years later, she opens up about the sordid affair. It made headlines thanks to her cunning plan of revenge involving a handwritten note and her wedding dress.
Meeting Mr. Right
Karen Dineen couldn’t believe her luck when she met Terry Lovell, a builder. The pair started a whirlwind romance that would see them married in what can only be described as a fairytale wedding straight out of a children’s book.
On their wedding day, things looked so promising for the happy pair. The couple was happy, devoting themselves to their lives together and to creating a perfect family.
Starting A Family
Karen and Terry had two children together, and life was idyllic for this family in Essex, England. Terry worked as a builder while Karen focused on raising their kids and running the household.
The family was everything to Karen. She did all the things a loving wife would do for her husband and children. Things couldn’t be more perfect. Everyone thought the couple was the perfect example of a happy marriage.
Fast Forward 19 Years
It was shortly after the couple’s 19th (yes, you read that right) wedding anniversary that Karen started to notice a change in Terry’s behavior.
Being with someone for so long only makes you more aware of the smaller changes. This is exactly what led Karen to believe that something wasn’t right.
After 19 happy years, or what she thought were happy years, something evil was brewing. Karen knew she needed to get to the bottom of it.
Signs of Trouble
Having been with Terry for 19 years, she knew his daily routine as only a loving wife would. It was a series of very small changes that first set off alarm bells that something was up.
But, trying not to get too worked up, she waited to see what else would crop up. Staying silent, she watched to see what other signs she could spot of the trouble that lay ahead.
Sign #1 of Many
The very first thing Karen noticed was that Terry would come home from work, change into something fancier, and then go back to work.
This isn’t that unusual under normal circumstances. But, with Terry being a builder by trade, this sudden change was odd and came as a surprise to Karen.
Trouble in the Relationship
Karen’s “female intuition” kicked in. In an interview, she said she knew immediately that something was going on outside the marriage that shouldn’t have been.
“He started coming home, having a shower and getting smarted up, and saying he was going to look at a job. I wondered what was going on because after living with someone for so long, any little changes you notice.”
Intuition
Deciding to go with her gut feeling, Karen grew more and more suspicious as time went on. But still, she didn’t say anything, rather adopting a watch-and-wait attitude.
“Something in me said, keep your eyes and ears open and mouth shut.”
“So, after that, I knew something was going on,” she explained. A woman’s intuition is never wrong.
Boy, was Karen right to be concerned about her husband’s changes in behavior, habits, and demeanor.
It’s a Holly Jolly Christmas
Christmas soon rolled in. When Terry presented his wife with a £700 diamond ring, it only made her even more suspicious that her husband was living a lie.
As she said in a later interview, the gift had guilt written all over it.
But, there was more. It was only after Karen found a receipt for two bottles of “Black Opium” perfume that she found the sign she was so desperately looking for.
The Scent of a Woman
We have to give it to Terry: he gave his wife and his mysterious mistress the same perfume so that if he came home smelling of “Black Opium,”
Karen would think it hers, and it would not raise suspicion.
But poor Terry didn’t think like a woman. He believed that his secret was still safe and buried. As Karen said, “
What he was thinking was, he will buy both of us Opium, so when he comes in smelling of it, it’s my perfume.”
Looking for Proof
Still, despite her growing suspicions, Karen said nothing and decided to wait for more signs and evidence of his wrongdoings.
She began snooping for clues regarding her husband’s possible extracurricular activities.
She felt she needed more proof before she could confront him, and the evidence had to be good! For two whole months, Karen watched her husband closely, waiting for some more concrete proof to come to light.
Terry Drops a Bomb
In February, he dropped a bomb that would ultimately lead to her setting her plans in motion. “Around Valentines Day, I remember him saying something like, ‘I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life.’”
So I said, ‘I thought I was part of it?’ and he said, ‘You are, but I don’t know what I want to do, just give me time.’”
This was obviously a painful shock for her to receive, as she had taken her wedding vows to heart and had planned for a future together.
Karen Makes a Hard Decision
This was all Karen needed to hear to make some necessary changes at home. She started taking care of herself and her own needs.
She wasn’t just going to sit and wait around for Terry when he made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t sure of their future together.
She needed to guard her heart and prepare herself for the storm that she knew was coming. This turned out to be a wise decision when she learned what was coming.
Friends and Enemies
Karen is not a difficult woman and takes loyalty very seriously. “I make a brilliant friend but a terrible enemy.
And he was making such an enemy of me.” Her feelings towards her husband of 19 years quickly changed.
Karen started clearing his things out of the home they shared, sorting and selling his belongings. She desperately wanted to remove him from her life before he had the chance to do it to her. Fair is fair.
The Family Home
Though things between the couple were anything but happy, they decided to still live together in the family home, keeping things as normal as they possibly could for the sake of their children.
But Karen knew that this awkward arrangement was only temporary as she plotted the next part of her plan, which was to find out his password and access his phone.
This could only happen if they still lived under the same roof. So, Karen bided her time as best she could and waited for the perfect opportunity.
Phone Troubles
Trying to access his phone, Karen found that Terry had changed his password. “Why would he do that if he had nothing to hide?” she thought to herself.
This action made her even more determined to catch him for his wrongdoing. She again adopted her watch-and-wait attitude that would soon prove to be worth all her efforts.
An Unbelievable Discovery
Karen’s chance at getting Terry’s password came one morning as she woke up to him moving around in bed to get his phone.
Laying ever so still but watching closely, she saw him type in the four numbers and now knew his password.
But then came the next challenge of getting a hold of his phone to go through it. If she could just get hold of his phone, she could know who and what she was up against.
The Plan
While Terry was very protective of his phone and carried it on him or with him wherever he went, there was one place where Karen knew he wouldn’t take this phone.
That was the shower. So, one evening, she patiently waited for him to shower, snuck downstairs, locked the door behind her, and hopped in her car.
The front door needed a key to unlock, and by locking the door, she was the only one who could open it, leaving Terry with no way to come out and go after her.
The Texts
Once Karen was safely locked in her car, she took a deep breath and unlocked the phone. What she found made her ill with disgust as she read hundreds of texts between him and a woman.
The messages were intimate texts complete with the sordid details of their trysts, and sickeningly cute nicknames like “huggy bear” were exchanged between the two. It was then that Karen discovered who the other woman was.
Keep Your Friends Close
Karen felt her heart drop when she saw the name of the woman her husband had been having an affair with: Carol, her best friend of 25 years.
Carol had been her friend since before she met and married Terry, had been a guest at their wedding, and had children who were friends with her children.
The families regularly got together and considered each other’s spouses their friends. Carol later divorced, but this did not stop the friends from visiting each other.
Now, Karen was starting to understand why Carol was coming around so much.
The Ultimate Betrayal
Karen couldn’t believe what she was reading, and the discovery of this affair was the ultimate betrayal. “
It was the betrayal of a husband and a friend. Neighbors and friends knew about it and never told me.” The sheer humiliation of the whole situation only fueled Karen’s anger.
People she thought she could trust had let her down in the worst way possible by not telling her what was going on. As the story usually goes, the innocent party is always the last to know.
Terry’s Call and Denial
While still in her car, Terry called Karen from the home phone, which only made her angrier, and she answered his call by saying, “
Hello huggy bear, been s***ging your s**t, have you?” Not knowing that she had seen the texts on his phone, he continued to deny the affair, lying through his teeth that nothing was happening.
Karen, of course, saw through his lies and kicked him out of the house. He quickly moved in with Carol, and the two carried on with their lives without sparing a thought for Karen and the pain and humiliation that their relationship had caused.
Revenge
Rather than fall to pieces, Karen decided to get her revenge, and as the famous saying goes, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
She knew that she would never forgive either Terry or Carol and needed to get them back for betraying her trust and breaking up her marriage.
Poor Carol and Terry were on the receiving end of Karen’s anger. But don’t feel too bad for them.
After all they’ve done, her rage is totally justifiable and something they should have expected.
The Wedding Dress Fiasco
While clearing out the family home after Terry moved out, Karen happened upon her old wedding dress stashed in the attic and suddenly had the best idea of how she would get her now ex-best friend and husband back for the pain and humiliation they had caused her. And so her plan was put in motion.
Prepare yourself because the plan that Karen hatched will leave you in awe and have you jumping out of your chair to give this woman a standing ovation!
Getting Even
Karen was a big fan of the saying, “Don’t get mad; get even.” Boy, did she keep this in mind when she set out to hatch the ultimate plan of revenge.
It was the pain of knowing that she was the last one to find out that drove her to cook up an elaborate scheme that would humiliate the couple as she had been humiliated.
She decided that she would use her wedding dress to get even. She would display her dress on Carol’s front lawn for the world to see, hopefully causing the same humiliation that she herself had to face from the affair.
Revenge and Satisfaction
Nothing would stop Karen from carrying out her plan as she drove to Carol’s house, wedding dress in the backseat.
Once there, she set up a beautiful display of her wedding dress right outside the front door, along with a curt handwritten note.
What the note said can only be described as genius, and we would have loved to see the look on Carol and Terry’s faces when they arrived home to see the spectacle.
Dear Carol
The note simply said, “Hey Carol, I know you love secondhand goods, so I thought you might like the dress I wore when I married your boyfriend.
Love, Karen XX.” Oh, to be a fly on Carol’s wall when the new couple discovered this display that had been left out for anyone walking or driving past to see!
Karen will never know what their reaction was. But knowing she had gotten her revenge was the only satisfaction she needed and gave her the strength to keep going and not let this ruin her life.
Relief and Excitement
Driving home from leaving this surprise for Carol and Terry, Karen couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief wash over her, finally getting her revenge and cutting them both out of her life. But she felt a little tingle of excitement, too.
She thought of their reaction when they arrived home to find her note and her wedding dress propped up on their front lawn.
The thought of them feeling even an ounce of shame was just what Karen needed to start a new life without them.
New Beginnings
One of the first things Karen did after she got home was to change her phone number, leaving Carol and Terry with no way of contacting her or speaking to her.
She wanted them out of her life for good.
Newspapers somehow got wind of the wedding dress story and contacted Carol for a story. But she declined to comment on the matter. We can’t say we’re surprised, especially with the rallying support for Karen.
Terry’s Excuse
Terry, of course, did what any cheater would do when caught and said in an interview that Karen wasn’t only hard to live with but that she was also the kind of woman that was just waiting to be cheated on.
He showed no shame for his actions and tried to justify his behavior by saying, “People have affairs every day.” This justification was, of course, laughable, and Terry was ridiculed for his rather inane comments.
Divorce and a New-Old Name
The divorce was a messy one, and while Karen believed that she should not have to pay for the divorce when Terry was the one that cheated, she just wanted it over with.
Her final act in getting her own life back was to head down to the deed office and change her name back to her maiden name of Dineen.
This was a great way to leave the whole terrible experience behind her and begin the process of moving on.
Thoughts on an Ex-Best Friend
Karen has shared that Carol’s betrayal sickens her. She said that Carol is a vile woman for doing what she did.
Due to their actions, she has not spoken to either of them since the discovery and the divorce.
When interviewed four years later, she said that the final straw for her was discovering the texts. She’s also not too concerned with Carol.
“I was just thinking, wait until he shows his true colors. She has no idea what she let herself in for. The grass is always greener on the other side.”
Giving Up on Terry
Karen has gone on to say that the betrayal from two of the most important people in her life was what caused the most pain.
She feels that Terry should have had the guts to say that he didn’t love her anymore rather than cheat on her.
Even that would have hurt less than what she had to go through as she found out her husband cheated on her with her best friend of 25 years.
She would have learned to move on as best she could and wishes that things could have been different.
