A 61-year-old woman, Diane Peebles from Edinburgh, UK, who spent more than £100,000 on her Sri Lankan husband, now aims to recover her money following the discovery that he was married to someone else before his tragic death.
Diane Peebles invested her life savings in her former husband Priyanjana De Zoysa, who was 33 years her junior. She met him on holiday when she was 53, and he was just 20. However, she now feels left with “nothing” after finding out about his prior marriage and subsequent demise.
As reported by the Daily Record, Diane, whose marriage to Priyanjana was her first, is working with a Scottish lawyer to reclaim her assets. She had spent her life savings to purchase a house for him in Sri Lanka, only to discover he was also wed to an 18-year-old local girl.
At the time, she was informed that it was challenging for a foreigner to own a house in Sri Lanka. Naively, she put the property in her husband’s name after selling her £105,000 UK flat.
She utilized the money to construct a three-bedroom home in Sri Lanka for Priyanjana and also spent £31,000 on a Toyota Hiace for him to use as a taxi.
She also bought furniture and gifts for his family and covered most of their living expenses while residing next door to them. She considers this a love scam that she has now come to terms with.
“My two brothers-in-law and their families are currently residing in my home rent-free. They do not deserve to live there.
The house was built with the earnings from my career over many years, and now I have nothing to show for it. It cannot be right,” Diane expressed.
She added, “I know it’s complicated, but my bank records will prove that my money paid for the house and various other expenses.”
“I went from financial security to destitution, so even reclaiming half of what I spent on his family would significantly impact my retirement,” she emphasized.
Approximately eight years ago, while on vacation in Sri Lanka, Diane took an interest in Priyanjana, a young hotel worker and tuk tuk driver.
“I thought he was a very nice young man, very polite,” Diane recalled.
“He asked for my mobile number and later my address, and I did not think much of it.”
“Upon returning home, he attempted to call me, but his English was not proficient,” she explained. “He wrote me several letters, and from January 2012, we began exchanging texts and had phone conversations, during which he mentioned marriage. It took me by surprise.”
A few months later, Diane returned to Sri Lanka to reunite with her paramour.
He eagerly spoke of “engagement tomorrow,” leading Diane to believe they needed to register their intent to marry. She was unaware that she would be partaking in her own wedding ceremony at the registrar’s office.
“She began reciting, ‘Do you take…,'” Diane recalled.
“Initially, I was taken aback, but he urged me to proceed and say it.”
The two were married, with Diane asserting that her new husband was initially “attentive, romantic, and loving.”
After selling her house for £105,000, she retired early from her customer services assistant job at the Edinburgh City Council to start building a home with Priyanjana.
However, upon joining him in Sri Lanka, things began to unravel.
Following their wedding in Sri Lanka in 2012, Diane purchased a fridge-freezer for his family, and soon it became customary for her to financially support his family until she was left penniless and relying solely on her £363-a-month pension.
After some time, her husband’s affections waned.
“He spent more time at his mother’s house than with me,” she lamented. “Or he would go out with friends at night and not return home. It just wasn’t working out. We argued frequently over money, and I realized it was all a sham.”
In 2016, Diane discovered a Valentine’s Day card addressed to him as “my husband,” which he dismissed as a prank from a friend.
Later on, she found out that he had married a local woman, whom she had previously met when visiting them. In 2017, Priyanjana was fatally shot by thugs seeking to extort money from him, which Diane believes stemmed from jealousy over the funds she had given him.
Diane conveyed to This Morning, “All my friends and family had advised me against going there.
“But I believed he loved me, and I loved him. When you’re in love, you do foolish things.”
“I regret sacrificing my life,” she expressed.
She now cautions other women about the potential perils of entering into similar situations, adding, “Do not engage with the locals, as many of them are very destitute. A lot of them seek to marry European women, believing we are all wealthy. I was not wealthy, but in their eyes, I was affluent.”
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