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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Found a mobile phone in h's bag

106 replies

MilkMonitor · 31/03/2012 06:38

So, h has given up smoking. He came home last night reeking of fags on his breath and hands. I told him he smelled and asked if he'd been smoking. He said no and said he'd been talking to colleagues outside his building who smoke. Sounded like a 1980's teen (me!) saying he'd been sitting on the top deck of the bus to me but I left it. He was so weary so I made him a cup of tea whilst he got ready for bed.

I woke up at 2am with him draped over me, still stinking of cigarettes. So, I got up and looked in his work bag. No fags but a tiny mobile phone was there. Pin locked. It's a tiny cheap Nokia. H is a strictly iPhone kind of guy.

Now, I had a total burst of panic especially after everything I've read about on MN about spare phones being used to conduct extra marital affairs.

I got back into to bed and asked h about it. I woke him up. He said he found it next to his car at the station car park and he would hand it in to lost property on Monday. I said I would do it and he said we would both do it. I asked why he wanted to do it and he said so he could tell them where he found it.

Now, I can't check the phone because it's pin locked. Does it all sound rum to you? I don't know what to think. He couldn't go back to sleep but wasn't angry about it like he normally would be. Neither could I so I started reading the paper on my iPhone. He kept asking me what I was doing etc. He did say it was typical of my negative brain to assume the worst and I replied that when confronted with unusual evidence, I had merely asked him albeit at 2am!

Am I being a berk?

OP posts:
clam · 31/03/2012 09:52

I wouldn't do that on the phone though. Much easier to gauge his reaction if you're face-to-face.

TooEasilyTempted · 31/03/2012 09:57

Yeah Clam is right, face to face is better.

Amazing coincidence that he happened to find a mobile phone (and not mention it) and tuck it away in his bag on the very night that you looked in his bag, what are the chances ?!?! Hmm

Jemma1111 · 31/03/2012 10:03

This also sounds very dodgy to me.

I would get to work on unlocking that pin.... maybe he's used the same number as his bank card or just try all the 1111's, 2222's etc

MilkMonitor · 31/03/2012 10:04

He says he found it on Thurs night. Stuck it in his bag and that is that.

I have no concrete proof of anything. I have nothing to act on.

OP posts:
MilkMonitor · 31/03/2012 10:04
Sad
OP posts:
clam · 31/03/2012 10:07

The phone is your potential "proof," if you want it to be. There will be ways of unlocking it. Be patient - it's going to be killing him that you have possession of it if he knows what's on there. He'll slip up soon, don't you worry about that.

noddyholder · 31/03/2012 10:08

I think the fact that you are so upset and suspicious is 'gut feeling' tbh as if my dp found a phone I probably wouldn't look twice! My ex on the other hand.....

BeforeAndAfter · 31/03/2012 10:11

I think you'll have to buy a cheap phone and find out. You don't have an old one stashed away? I've still my old phone plus charger in a drawer "just in case" so maybe you or H have got one somewhere.

Give him back the phone minus SIM but don't tell him you've taken it out and make sure you've hidden the SIM well until you can read what's on it!

If he's not guilty he won't even think to look for the SIM but if he's got something to hide he'll be planning to whip out the SIM and hand the phone in with you there while playing the big innocent before he buys another cheap phone and hides that one somewhere where you'll never find it.

So if you give him the phone minus the SIM and he asks you where the SIM is that will be quite telling.

I'm afraid that he's sounding guilty of something to me as he seems to have trotted out his defence lines about "you can check on me at work" etc all too readily. If I'd found a phone, popped it in my bag to hand in later and my partner had then discovered it I don't think it would occur to me to then reassure him that I'll be at my desk all day and that he could phone me at work, oh and I don't have time to shag around etc. None of that would have entered my head.

Read that SIM come what may.

LiarsWife · 31/03/2012 10:13

My stbx also 'didn't have time for an affair ' but had one during work time with a colleague

BeforeAndAfter · 31/03/2012 10:13

Oh, I've just remembered, you can save messages on the SIM and the phone.

Get down to one of those dodgy shops while he's at work today and get the phone unlocked.

MilkMonitor · 31/03/2012 10:14

Yes I will get a phone. And yes my gut feeling is negative and I know the truth will out sooner or later. I just wish i wouldn't need to delve like this.

OP posts:
seeker · 31/03/2012 10:16

The fact that you are suspicious means that either you have had loads of other indicators that there's a problem, OR you have a very suspicious nature. The first is probably the truth.

I don't think most people who hadn't had their suspicions aroused would either get up at 2 in the morning to search a bag or not believe the story about a found phone.

NotMostPeople · 31/03/2012 10:20

If it were my dh I wouldn't be suspicious because a. He is very forgetful and would probably forget he'd picked up the phone. B. when asked about it would be very clear that he loves me and isn't interested in anyone else.

I know this because he travels a lot and every now and then we have a conversation about how he has lots of opportunities to cheat (instigated by me). He never says he wouldn't risk his family, or well I'm married he always says something along the lines of 'I love you, I still fancy you like mad after all these years I've never even met anyone that compares to you, so it's just not something I'd ever think about'. Perfect.

MilkMonitor · 31/03/2012 10:21

Notmostpeople, my h says that sort of thing to me too.

OP posts:
Hattytown · 31/03/2012 10:24

If you want proof, keep the phone intact and try to get into it somehow.

Having seen your other threads though, you really don't need proof. If the trust has gone, the relationship has gone too. You've now got several incidents months apart where he's shown you're right to mistrust him.

There isn't a court or jury lining up somewhere to demand you show them proof that you're right to mistrust your husband. Why do you think you need that?

littlemeishere · 31/03/2012 10:26

It is very dodgy - especially his turning it on you and trying to make out your suspicion is because you are guilty of doing something.

I am useless with phones, but I would be outting the sim in my phone and seeing if it rings, because anyone that loses a phone will ring to see where it may be.

I don't believe him at all, based on his reaction and his past shenanigans.

I know this must be heartbreaking, but if he has form, do you really want to spend the rest of your life with a man like this? I know I couldn't. No man is worth this turmoil.

And the ring me at work thing is ridiculous. He wont be up to no good today thinking you might, but he will have an excuse another day.

Am sorry you are going through this, you do not deserve it.

rarebreed · 31/03/2012 10:28

I would take it to the local dodgy mobile phone shop and get it unlocked, just say its yours and you forgot the pin.

MilkMonitor · 31/03/2012 10:28

Hattytown, I can't think straight. Lots of other incidences that are dodgy but not dodgy enough for me?

I think I should review the list myself and get a firmer perspective.

I feel like I should have more solid proof before I break up the marriage.

OP posts:
learningtofly · 31/03/2012 10:32

The more I think about this, the more it seems fishy to me. If my dh had found a phone he would have told me (highlight of the day!) and he would have been like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting for the owner to phone it so he could return it.

Maybe we lead extremely boring lives but I think you do need to do some more digging sorry

Hattytown · 31/03/2012 10:37

But they were dodgy enough and obvious to other posters on your threads. I wasn't on them but I would have been calling foul too.

Maybe have a re-read of them all yourself? I agree it will give you a firmer perspective, which is why I suggested you write it all down. I always think that there are incidents a poster hasn't mentioned in a thread, so remember to add those too.

People can still have affairs if they still love and fancy their wives and are committed to their marriages, so I would pay no attention to any speeches he makes about that. Affairs are rarely about finding someone 'better' - they are more about finding someone who is 'there and willing' - that's all.

TooEasilyTempted · 31/03/2012 10:37

Ok I've read a couple of your other threads now.

If I lost my phone I'd try ringing it at various times throughout the day to see if anyone answered. And if it does ring you won't need the pin number to answer it.

But that won't happen because your DH isn't going to ring it, and he's already got a message to the other person that might.

Hattytown · 31/03/2012 10:39

I agree.

HauntedLittleLunatic · 31/03/2012 10:47

You can apparently get sim card readers which can access the log of incoming and outgoing alls and texts even after they have been deleted. You could threaten this rather than do - especially if you 'know' a friend that's got one (maybe cos she caught her ex out with it in the past).

Whether you will be able to access them via another phone will depend on whether it is the phone that is locked or the sim.

MadAboutHotChoc · 31/03/2012 10:48

My H made speeches about loving me and his family and how he would never consider cheating. These speeches are supposed to create a smokescreen Hmm

Given the other dodgy incidents I think you know deep down what is really going on - this should be enough to convince you that you need to take action instead of letting him get away with it.

If you want to take action - tell him to pack his bags.

lisaro · 31/03/2012 11:08

To be honest smoking and then lying about it would be the end for me. I couldn't kiss someone who smoked, the lying is bad enough but the fact that it's so insulting to lie about something so obvious is an indication that he thinks you're stupid and has no respect for you.