Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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

I Have snooped on Husbands Email

215 replies

Whitedogwithspots · 12/12/2019 17:10

I know I have got myself into this dilemma;
Married 30 years- adult kids- all as OK as it can be
'DH' has been awful in the past- we are talking 2 discovered ( by accident texts, not the outcome of snooping) 'affairs' over past 20 years.
Got through some counselling- quite intensive stuff - and he 'rehabbed' as really wanted to get my trust etc. And we both agreed- we loved each other and wanted to move on..

Since then and for the past 2 years he has been working abroad- I go out there every 2 months and he comes here the next time- and we speak and WhatsApp daily.

He is home for Xmas but due to flights etc he is due to return to his work country on 30th December and I have asked him what his plans are for NYE. The past 2, he has spent with friends who live close to him abroad. This year they are here in UK for Xmas so my DH will be alone on NYE. He has said several times over the past 2 months he has nil planned as he is potentially working on new years day, and isn't fussed - this is believable….

SO- he was home here 3 months ago and used my laptop to log in to his email account - and he didn't log out....and....I have looked at it every few days since- I am ashamed.

Very little of interest over the past few weeks, and all quite mundane stuff. In November I saw a request for an NYE special meal package at a seriously good restaurant - requesting a table for 2...I have been taken here when I have visited. The email back from the restaurant said yes and stated the price- DH replied saying too much money and if it was reduced or they had any last minute reductions to let him know.

It is very possible that this would have been for him and a male work colleague who I know is also going to be in the country alone also and this is a guy he does go out with for evenings. I didn't overthink that.

However. I have just seen a Hotel Reservation made for NYE In a super smart expensive 5 star( where I have also been)
It states it is a King Size Room for '2 adults'

I again asked DH about NYE plans since I saw this- and again he says nothing special is planned. The Hotel is close to the 'fun' part of town with a lot of bars and tbh prostitution opportunities. And I DO suspect him as this is an issue pf the past but one I was reassured was historical and we were over it.

Do I???

Get a flight over - to arrive on NYE and book a room at the hotel and 'surprise' him?
It would be feasible as he regards the place as a treat with excellent leisure facilities and brilliant food....I could easily dress it up as being a surprise NYE treat as I was so worried he'd start the year alone.

My GUT tells me that this is a very likely arrangement made to potentially go out either with his friend and have a 'boys night' with a pre-booked hotel to take a paid for woman with him, or he has got a thing going with a regular girlfriend that he wants to treat to a night in a hotel ( which is a big step up from his company flat)

I have worked out that I could easily get the flight and I know my way around and how to get to the hotel....plan would be to call him - surprise surprise style on the evening of NYE and ask him to the hotel where he would find me.

I think it far more likely that he will have turned his phone off or actually leave it at his flat and go out. Then I wouldn't be able to get hold of him and I can see the scenario unfold where I would sit in the foyer all evening and see him arrive WITH a woman.....and I then cant actually think about what would happen next ...it wont be pretty and it WOULD end in a divorce - albeit I will be on the flight back 3 days later and he will remain in the country.

Do I meet it head on - or say nothing and stay here?
IF I mention the email and admit snooping - he WILL just lie and say it is for a friend who needed him to book it as he has a loyalty card and gets a good rate. We have stayed there 4 times over the past 18 months so this is true. BUT he has form and can lie for England.

Of course I know I have done wrong- but I cannot bear any more deceptions and I had JUST about learnt to trust him - he hasn't given me any reason to think there is anyone else in the interim but having seen this reservation, I cant stop the mind movies.

It feels like an inevitability that 2020 will get off to a bad bad start and I also know whatever happens, then I will regret it.

For the record, I do love him and I think he loves me - but there is a piece of him that is still an adulterous disrespecter despite advancing years and a renegotiated arrangement of trust and acceptance between us.

Any advice anyone....shall I go or not or just suck it up either way....

OP posts:
NumbersStation · 03/01/2020 16:52

@YouJustDoYou said what I wanted to say.

I admire your strength Flowers

MsTSwift · 03/01/2020 16:53

Sorry to read this. All the senior men I worked with (corporate law) who were frequently travelling with work - especially to the Far East - into their 40s were serial shaggers. The decent family men managed it so they were at home more and sent more junior staff on the trips. There is no way back from this.

Lozzerbmc · 03/01/2020 19:22

So sorry he’s treated you this way - what an idiot he is. You are amazing and will come through this better than him.. Be kind to yourself Flowers

TrueCrimeFan · 03/01/2020 20:34

I'm so sorry OP but at least you know the truth and he cannot gaslight you into thinking you imagined it all

DartmoorDoughnut · 04/01/2020 08:41

Oof Sad sorry OP, hope the divorce isn’t too ugly

BraveGoldie · 04/01/2020 09:09

So sorry to hear your update OP- you must be in turmoil. I am really glad for you though that you have all the facts and hope this will help you find acceptance and move on.....

Sending Flowers

TriangleBingoBongo · 04/01/2020 09:26

I’ve just RTT. OP you are a remarkable woman. I hope you find peace and happiness at the end of this.

PepsiLola · 04/01/2020 09:32

Wow what an update! OP you're very brave!

Defo look into STI tests

NurseButtercup · 04/01/2020 09:34

I'm so sorry Flowers

Mummyoftwo91 · 04/01/2020 09:42

Your so brave op, you deserve so much better I hope you get your happy ending x

SandyY2K · 04/01/2020 10:10

You got cast iron proof in style...you're one brave woman.

I recommend www.surviving infidelity.com

It's a website for infidelity as the name suggests, but many there have husbands who cheated with prostitutes, escorts and go for happy ending massages.

Greenkit · 04/01/2020 10:21

Wow, you totally smashed it.

Keep strong, he will beg and beg, but it only for his own ends.

What a bastard

Whitedogwithspots · 04/01/2020 10:54

Thanks all for such kindness and support
I can see that STBX is actually a Sex Addict and demonstrates many of the behaviours and beliefs - fear of intimacy being one - along with lying and deception the hallmark etc etc.... I have explored outline details of counselling support for partners as I feel like I’ve been hit by the proverbial bus. The Laurel Center seems to be a resource though doubt it is in budget - all of this is tough but I don’t regret it so far - might change my tune further down the line of course. He is - predictably begging me to not go for divorce but I am just not speaking to him and have told him to speak via lawyer as I am terrified I will crumble and go and rescue him again - like I did before many years ago when this started - what a waste of time that was - love you all

OP posts:
notapizzaeater · 04/01/2020 11:06

What an absolute knob !

Hope you are reaching out and getting rl support.

GoddessOfTransformativeWrath · 04/01/2020 11:21

There is no dilemma here. You are not happy. He doesnt value you or your marriage but he wantscto fool you in to thinking he does. You are being gaslit consequently. Thank the universe you saw the emails. Dont feel guilt. But act on what u have seen.

All of those thought processes must be so demoralising and depressing.

TheReef · 04/01/2020 16:23

So sorry this has happened OP Thanks

user1479305498 · 04/01/2020 19:51

I’m so very sad for you OP but really admire you getting to the bottom of it. It’s worse when you don’t know for many years if you have the whole story. These guys that go for this ex pat but partnered up lifestyle in my experience rarely can hack it without the odd flirtation or ‘interest’ Going on. It’s why my MIL always insisted on being covered as’trailing wife’ I’m
Pretty sure. She saw way too
Much if this crap and often W it’s blokes too that did love their wife as well.— they tended to go for the ‘what happens on tour stays on tour’ kind of mindset- frequently this attitude found them ending up alone

Weenurse · 04/01/2020 22:55

💐

YouJustDoYou · 04/01/2020 22:58

Oh op- be strong. No amount of councilling will ever stop a "sex addict". Save yourself years of heart ache now, before you waste even more of your precious years on him.

leapinglucy · 04/01/2020 23:30

I think it's difficult to maintain a marriage when it's long distance. Seeing each other every two months isn't, IMO, sustainable. Monogamy is hard to maintain long term for many partners in the best of circumstances but for someone who has form for straying, being apart most of the time is a recipe for disaster.

Personally, if faced with this situation, I wouldn't bother with trying to trap my OH in flagrante delicto. I would simply find a time to talk to him, tell him what I've seen and say - calmly - that it's over.

I'm so sorry, OP.

BumbleBeee69 · 04/01/2020 23:36

Credit to you OP, for getting on that plane...... you're a legend for not taking this laying down.... You OP are a tower of strength... Flowers

WizardOfAus · 04/01/2020 23:45
Flowers
TheMistressQuickly · 04/01/2020 23:46

Omg he sounds disgusting and vile.

Well done for dropping him. Take him for as much as you can!!!

foodiefil · 04/01/2020 23:51

Bloody hell OP. Bravo. I know that's the least of your concerns but wowza you're brave and strong and I'm in awe.

Course he doesn't want you to divorce him you'd take half of everything and ruin his life.

Sorry you're going through this but hold onto that strength you have inside 🤍

Ellisandra · 04/01/2020 23:55

I don’t think he’s a sex addict.
I think he’s a selfish piece of shit who just felt he was entitled to whatever he wanted.
Addict?
Do you think if he was having to work late on an important piece of work, and therefore was unable to have sex that evening, that he’d be climbing the walls because he needed sex?
I would be very wary of giving him that “excuse”.
I’ve no idea about a specific support group, but as someone who dumped their husband years ago over his serial use of prostitutes, I’d just like to reassure you that it was nothing to do with you.
Some people are just selfish.