Father Of 2 Dumps His Wife Of 10 Years For Beautiful Ukrainian Refugee That Came To Live With Them

Sofiia Karkadym

A British father-of-two has dumped his partner after falling for a 22-year-old Ukrainian refugee who came to live with them to escape the war.

Tony Garnett, 29, and his partner Lorna, 28, took in Sofiia Karkadym at the start of May, but just 10 days later their seemingly-happy marriage was torn apart when the he ran away with the refugee. 

The security guard, who lives in Bradford, West Yorkshire, says he has fallen in love with the 22-year-old and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. 

Sofiia, who fled the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, said she 'fancied' Tony as soon as she saw him and that the pair are living their very own 'love story'.

Admitting the pain this will cause Lorna, Tony said he has 'discovered a connection with Sofiia like I've never had before', adding that they 'know this is right'. 

The family had taken Sofiia in in an effort to do their bit to help Ukrainian's fleeing the Russian invasion, with Tony telling The Sun he 'wanted to do the right thing' and that she was the first person to get in touch on a Facebook page where he offered to house a refugee.

Just 10 days after moving in with Tony Garnett and his partner Lorna, Sofiia (pictured) and her new lover moved out

Sofiia, who works as an IT manager, flew into Manchester on May 4 after waiting for weeks in Berlin for her UK visa to be approved.

Tony said he and Sofiia quickly developed a connection, and while his six-year-old and three-year-old daughters also took a liking to her, his partner of 10 years did not. 

Tony, who speaks Slovakian, would talk with his future lover while she spoke Ukrainian, as the two languages are mutually intelligible.

Sofiia, who is an IT manager, fled the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to escape the war.. Pictured are refugees waiting to board a train at the main railway station in the city

However, this left Lorna not understanding what they were talking about.

'We were getting on brilliantly but at that time it was no more than that — although I can see why Lorna started to feel jealous and resentful of her,' Tony said.

As the days passed Sofiia would join Tony at the gym and they would talk in his car, while at home they grew physically closer.  

Daily Mail UK