Snooker ace Willie Thorne’s wife has revealed her heartbreak after finding he had been swapping messages with another woman.
Jill Saxby was checking her husband was not gambling again when the exchanges came up on her iPad in January 2014.
The former Miss Great Britain claimed Thorne expressed love and got a ‘ditto’ reply from the recipient.
It is understood he did not know his iPhone was not paired with Ms Saxby’s iPad.
Snooker legend Willie Thorne (pictured right) has confirmed his split from his wife Jill Saxby (pictured left) , after 24-years of marriage
Ms Saxby, 60, told the Sunday Mirror: ‘It was like living with two different people. He was a kind, loving man, but there was this addiction. I’d call it ”Willie’s World”.
‘When we were together it was ”Our World”. The other Willie was sneaking off, placing bets, getting into debt and serious trouble.’
In a wide-ranging interview, the speech therapist told how she had believed her husband’s denials of being unfaithful.
But she said: ‘It was horrendous – there was evidence he’d been contacting another woman. There were messages saying how much he loved her and she’d say ”ditto”. Others said things like, ”Been thinking about you all day”.’
The star lost his detached mock Tudor home in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, after reports the mortgage had not been paid last month.
He has now split from Ms Saxby, who stopped him taking his own life in 2015 over £1million gambling debts.
A source close to the snooker ace, said last week: ‘He’s really struggling. To lose your wife and house is just awful. It’s been a rotten time.’
The snooker ace has lost his detached mock Tudor home in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, pictured, after reports the mortgage had not been paid
It comes shortly after the 65-year-old split from Jill Saxby – the former Miss Great Britain who stopped him taking his own life in 2015 over £1million gambling debts
The home shared by the couple, had fallen into disrepair while they were living in Spain.
It is now set to sell for £475,000, according to local estate agents.
The BBC commentator, who is based in Spain, said on Twitter he and the former Miss GB had separated, with Ms Saxby reportedly relocating to the UK.
In 2015, the sports star revealed how his wife stopped him from killing himself over £1million gambling debts.
He had taken a knife to a hotel and written letters to family members – only to be found by Ms Saxby just in time.
In a now-deleted announcement on social media, Thorne reportedly confirmed the pair were no longer together.
The post said: ‘Just so everybody knows and before rumours start Jill and I have separated and she has gone back to the UK. I hope to be staying here in Spain.’
The snooker player, who spiralled into gambling debt after retiring from the sport in 2002, previously told of how money lenders threatened to chop off his wife’s fingers and take her jewellery to pay off loans.
Willie Thorne in the Snooker Championships at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre
‘I couldn’t see a way out,’ he said in 2015, ‘I’d caused so much grief to so many people. It’s so cowardly.
‘I’ve three children, two stepchildren and grandchildren and life in a nice house with a loving wife… yet I couldn’t see a way through it.’
Thorne has previously said how he started gambling during his snooker career, but upon retiring in 2002, found it harder to fund his habit.
He said he had struggled to cope after giving up the sport, where he had once reached number seven in the world rankings.
He began to accept money from lenders who knew he could not resist borrowing money in the hope of being rewarded with a big win.
In his 2011 autobiography, Taking A Punt On My Life, Thorne – who was nicknamed Mr Maximum – spoke of his love of horse racing, and how the habit had left him with mounting debts.
He revealed in the book that he had previously tried to take his own life in March 2002 – a few days after his 48th birthday – by taking sleeping pills but was discovered by his step-son, then aged 11, and treated in hospital.
‘It was a terrible thing to do,’ he said of the 2002 attempt in his autobiography. I was taking the easy way out and leaving her [Ms Saxby] to to mop up the mess I had created.’
The former Miss GB (pictured in 1985) stopped him taking his own life in 2015 over £1million gambling debts
He suffered a mild stroke in 2010, in the middle of a thank you speech at a charity event, which he believed may have been brought on partly by stress from his gambling addiction.
Thorne, who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, was able to get his betting under control.
But when his mother Nancy died in 2013 Thorne, who has previously spoken of his battle with depression, fell back into gambling.
He was being encouraged by professional gamblers and went from staking around £1,000 to betting up to £20,000 on a single race.
‘Mum was my rock and everything to me,’ he said.
‘When she went I wanted to win enough money to get away from how I was feeling. I wanted to win enough to win happily ever after.’