A British mum is counting down the days until she can be alone for the first time with her American husband – a jail inmate with “hatred” tattooed on his forehead.
Becci Thompson, 32, flew to Los Angeles to marry American convict Travis Thompson in prison in 2018.
It was only the EIGHTH time they had ever met, but Becci believe he was ‘the one’ – and she still does – despite the fact they’ve never been alone together.
Despite his crimes and the distance between them, she’s counting down the days to his release – in three months time.
And his impending release means the carer, from Staines, Surrey, gets to be alone with him for just two days in an apartment on the prison grounds in January next year.
It will be the first time they get a chance to consummate the marriage too.
Becci opened up to Real Fix, a new podcast about extraordinary true stories, and the people behind them.
Speaking to the podcast, she said: “I’m looking forward to it.
“It will be nice to actually spend a bit of time together where we’re not in such a controlled environment.
“We will be able to just do silly things, things like cooking, and just being able to do stuff without having the guards staring at you.
“They have little apartments out there. It’s got everything you would normally have in home – so cooking facilities, TV, etc.
“We basically get a few days just left alone, and just get on with it really.
“That will be happening early next year, so that’s pretty exciting.”
Heavily-tattooed Thompson, 33, is serving eight years and seven months for burglary and gun offences.
Becci started writing to death row prisoners around five years ago – and her first penpal was a killer who’d been inside since the 80s.
She started writing to Travis in around 2016 and they “clicked straight away” – despite the fact she had a partner at the time.
The mum-of-four saved up money to go out and visit him – and they got married in prison in November 2018.
The bride wore a red and purple skull-print dress and the groom was in his blue prison uniform.
He was recently moved to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, San Diego, and is due to be released in 2023 – after having time added on for allegedly being involved in fights.
But the couple hope it will be sooner if Travis can keep up his ‘good behaviour’.
She can’t wait for his release so they can start a new life together – with her four young children.
“They see that I’m happy and they really just want their mum to be happy,” she told the weekly podcast, which features real life stories.
“They know what exactly that has happened.
“I’ve always been really open with the children.
“People talk and people speculate, and I wanted the children to understand what he’s in for, not what people think he’s in for.”
She said the worst thing about being married to a prisoner was the judgement from others – especially other “prisoner wives”.
“Apart from the distance and that he is locked away, you do worry about them a lot because there are a lot of fights and stuff that happen with prison,” she told the fifth episode of Real Fix.
“Not always being able to talk to them when you need them to talk to, and also a lot of people judging and especially online you get a lot of people who judge and a lot of people who try to interfere.
“I think that’s probably the worst thing – the judgement from other people or just people trying to be nasty.
“It’s people online. My friends, they don’t understand it but they support me and they love me.
“It’s more so, believe it or not, other UK prison wives that like to cause drama and stir up stuff.
“It can get very vicious.”
Becci spoke to the team at the Real Fix podcast – a brand new podcast featuring real life people sharing their extraordinary personal stories in their own words.
- Listen to the Real Fix podcast here https://www.real-fix.com/real-fix-podcast/ or subscribe using the appropriate podcast platform here https://plnk.to/realfix