I Liked the construction worker next door, but my ideal man became a disaster

A widow shares the harrowing story of seeking solace in a younger man after losing her husband, only for the promising relationship to take a dangerous turn.

Sharon Annoscia, a 53-year-old resident of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, found herself drawn to a Polish builder who was 12 years her junior while he was working on a nearby property.

Struggling with the emotional turmoil following her husband Michael’s sudden passing at 37, Sharon became entangled in a deep bond with Lukasz Janiec, 41.

But her new lover, who stands at a towering 6ft 5in, soon began to abuse her in ever more vicious ways – culminating in an attack so violent she feared he would kill her.

Now, as Janiec prepares to be released from a holding centre where Sharon says he is being held after serving a 17-week sentence on remand, she has bravely decided to speak out about her trauma.

On the night the brute was arrested last August, Sharon had been battered so badly that she passed out – only to regain consciousness while he was stamping on her head with a cable wrapped around her neck.

She told MailOnline: ‘I thought to myself that night, I’ve taken the hits before. I can do it. I’m going to get bruised. I’m going to feel the pain for a couple of months. So that’s what I did.

‘I just wanted out. And if I died, I died. I just couldn’t be in that situation anymore.’

The mother-of-three said Janiec ‘sold her the dream’ after being ‘charming, handsome and caring’ while she was in a vulnerable state.

He moved out of his home in Birmingham and into her house, though she later found out he had been sacked from the job after they discovered he had drug problems.

But things quickly turned sour.

After their ‘honeymoon period’ violence began when Janiec returned from weekend benders with his old friends where he would take cocaine and drink into the early hours of the morning.

The abuse spiralled from having the occasional ‘cross word’ into Janiec almost killing her before eventually being locked up.

By the end of their relationship, he had stolen £12k of Sharon’s savings, which had been left behind by her husband.

Janiec would use the stolen cash to go on the drug binges and even threatened to kill himself if she did not hand over more cash.

Sharon says Janiec has ‘no legality’ to remain in the country following his release, but due to having two children and an ex-wife in the UK, the 41-year-old could have a strong enough case to fight deportation.

The impact of the violence had catastrophic effects on Sharon’s relationships with her own children and left her feeling like she ‘couldn’t look them in the eye’.

The mother, who herself worked as a domestic support worker for a charity, said she had raised her two daughters and son to be ‘strong and independent’, but felt she had let them down by falling into the trap of staying with her abuser for too long.

On numerous occasions, her son, who she says only weighs around eight stone, would stand in front of the monster and take the beatings himself to stop his mother from being hurt.

The abuser, paranoid and penniless after spending all of her money – and his benefit cash – on the Class A drugs, would even stop her from going to work by ‘pinning her down’ and holding the phone to her ear as he demanded she call in sick.

She said: ‘One day he turned to me and said he thought I was having sex with people at my work. I just cleaned the communal areas to make it tidy for them, I had nothing to do with the people.

‘But if I didn’t call in, he would lock me in the cupboard until I eventually did.’

It was the charity that flagged initial concerns to authorities over their relationship, but after Janiec began showing interest in other women, Sharon saw that as her only chance to ‘break free’ and piece her life back together.

On the night of Janiec’s arrest, she raised the issues with him and he quickly became aggressive and raised his hands to batter her.

After her neighbour ‘heard the screams’ through the wall on August 16, 2024, and called the police, Janiec was arrested and sentenced to just 17 weeks in jail which he served on remand.

Now, Sharon, fearing Janiec’s return, has launched a GoFundMe page to afford the opportunity to flee the street where her torment played out.

She said: ‘I hope he never gets the opportunity to do this again to anybody. He still doesn’t understand the impact it has had on my life.

‘My nan used to tell me “it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a second to shatter it” and he shattered mine. Day by day he etched away at me and I hate him for that.

‘But now I can look myself in the mirror and be proud to say that I got away and he didn’t win, I won. And he’s going to be a continuous loser for the rest of his life.’

Having ‘come through the other side’, Sharon has issued a warning to those in similarly violent relationships to take notice of the ‘red flags’ before a similar chaos unfolds.

She said: ‘Don’t sit back like I did and take it because you’ll get trapped in that situation.

‘It’s been seven months now and I’ve only just turned a corner where I’m happy with myself and feel worthy again.

‘I know who I am now and I’ve got my identity back, because I felt like I was a nobody with no-one to turn to during that time.

‘I’m finally getting a relationship back with my daughters because I was brave enough to walk away and say enough was enough.’