Man jailed for LOOTING his own wedding venue, his heavily pregnant bride is standing by him

Christopher Richards

A heavily pregnant bride vowed to stand by her new husband today - even though he was jailed for trashing and looting their wedding venue.

Bridie Sparks, 24, had just wed Christopher Richards, 25, when he and three friends went back to the club where they held the reception to plunder it of thousands of pounds worth of alcohol and computers.

Bridie Sparks

The group also caused more than £20,000 of damage to property in the building by smashing doors and ripping cabinets off walls.

The raid occurred after kind-hearted accountant Catherine Murphy, who runs the Bacup Hub club in Bacup, Lancashire, laid on a half price champagne buffet for the couple and their 90 guests because they complained of being broke and she felt sorry for them.

The newly-married couple are pictured leaving the church following the wedding

Richards an unemployed former labourer later handed himself into police after CCTV captured him inside the building and the pictures were published in a local newspaper.

This CCTV footage shows the raid taking place at the Bacup Hub. The raid took place despite the venue's owner giving the newly weds a massive discount because they complained of being broke and she felt sorry for them

Miss Murphy, 34, who had bought the venue for £175,000 and who at the time was also pregnant was said to so 'emotionally tortured' by Richard's betrayal she tried to kill herself.

At Burnley Crown Court, Richards of Bacup, admitted burglary and was jailed for six months after what a judge described as 'a dreadful offence.'

But today Miss Sparks, who already has two children with Richards and will now give birth to their third whilst he is in jail, said she would stick with her husband.

She said : 'I'm standing by my man because I love him and nobody is perfect. I know my husband isn't an angel and it hurts that he went back to the same place we got married.

'But Christopher has admitted he's done something wrong and is serving his time, he's truly sorry. He has been crying on the phone from jail.

'I'm now 35 weeks pregnant and I won't even have my husband by my side for the pregnancy. It's affected me badly, with lots of people staring at me in the street, thinking I had something to do with it.

'It has been very distressing for me, even though I had nothing at all to do with it.'

She added: 'My wedding memories are tarnished now because of what he did. I can't even look at our wedding photos now. I was going to watch our wedding DVD the other night, but I stopped myself as it just reminds me of the bad situation we're in now.

'When I saw the CCTV stills of my husband I just felt sick, he looked like a criminal. I was disgusted as any wife would be. On the night of the incident he came back drunk and I knew instantly he had done something wrong.

'I told him he was going to ruin the future for us and he crumbled because he knew I was right - all because of one drunken night. It was an act of stupidity; I wish he had thought of me and the kids.'

Bridie Sparks said she will stand by her man

The court heard how Richards and his bride had held their reception at the venue in July last year - just six months before last January's raid.

Miss Murphy only charged the couple £1,060 for the whole day - including venue, champagne, chocolate fountain and bouncy castle - paying the rest of the £2,400 total herself.

But Richards, his usher George Taylor, 24, and two other intruders returned to the club repeatedly throughout the night of January 2 and 3 between about 10pm and about 7am smashing doors and ripping cabinets off walls.

Richards and his usher helped snatch 62 bottles of spirits worth £1,130 from the bar and grabbed 159 bottles of spirits and cans of soft drinks worth £2,672 from the storeroom during their callous dead of night raid.

Christopher Richards, left, and his usher George Taylor, left, are pictured at the wedding. Both returned to the Bacup Hub club and stole spirits and wine

More than 80 bottles of wine valued at £1,714 and 2,602 bottles or cans of beer and alcopops worth £2,089 were also lifted from the main bar fridge.

Items including computers and laptops and DVDs and valued at £14,970 went missing and it cost £24,214 to replace damaged property such as CCTVs, mirrors, tiles, cupboards and glasses. The total cost of the raid in theft and damage was £46,790.

Richards later told police it was act of stupidity carried out when he was drunk. He claimed they entered through an insecure door and said he did not cause any damage.

But in her victim statement, Miss Murphy said the incident caused her to try and kill herself. It had also had an impact on her staff as well. Events and staff had to be let go and people cancelled weddings. The victim stated she had suffered stress and anxiety due to the raid and was prescribed medication.

She said: 'I feel ashamed that I trusted them. Bridie explained her circumstances, and she got a bit upset when I first met her.

'She'd had a bit of bad luck, her mother had died when she was younger, but she wanted the wedding of every girl's dreams and I helped to bring some community spirit back to the area.

'We had a chocolate fountain, chairs with bows and coverings, sashes in a light blue, a children's craft corner, children's and adult's buffet and a bouncy castle.

'The wedding was in July and we were burgled on January 6. It didn't even cross my mind that it would be somebody local. I've invested a lot in this area.

'The police didn't tell me the news at first because I'm seven months pregnant. When I heard who had done it in the station, I burst into tears

'It's shaken my belief in people and I hope I'll be a better judge of character in future.'

In mitigation defence counsel Robert Elias, for Richards, said his client took five bottles of beer and one bottle of wine and added: 'He does have affection for this building, as he got married there some time before. It does seem as if half of Bacup had been in there, helping themselves to drink.'

But Judge Jonathan Gibson said: 'It was the most dreadful offence of commercial burglary which left the owner devastated. There is clearly evidence of impact to the community. It seems to me it's inevitable there must be a custodial sentence.'

Taylor, also of Bacup, pleaded guilty to burglary and an unrelated offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was jailed for five years.

Culled from DAILY MAIL