‘Lust took over – we couldn’t help ourselves’: Couple’s child was conceived on a PRISON VISIT
Newborn Blossom's dad Daniel is jailed for ten years in COCKROACH infested Maltese jail - but daughter was conceived on his devoted wife's visit
THE devoted wife of a man jailed in Malta has told how she conceived her second child while visiting her partner in prison.
Marzena Holmes, 28, fell pregnant during a two-hour conjugal visit to see 37-year-old Daniel.
He was imprisoned in November 2011 for growing five cannabis plants with a friend for personal use.
Marzena said: "Daniel was on bail when I met him in 2006 but for years nothing came of it. We were a normal couple and so in love."
They met when Marzena worked in chef Daniel's restaurant and she gave birth to their first daughter just before he was sent to prison. Rainbow was three months old when the couple said goodbye.
Marzena said: "I had prepared myself for the possibility that Daniel would be jailed, but when I heard the Judge say 'ten years,' I could hardly take it in."
The couple arranged for Marzena, who is Polish, to stay in Malta and visit her Welsh husband in the Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF) near the country's capital of Valetta.
The heartbroken wife said: "The only way I could comfort myself was by repeating over and over: 'At least he's not dead. This isn't the end.'"
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Marzena stayed nearby with baby Rainbow to be close to Daniel for as long as possible, but sadly "it soon became obvious that with no family support and no childcare I just couldn't stay".
She moved back home to St. Mellons, in Cardiff, to live with her mum, saying that the couple were "devastated to be apart".
She saved up for visits - flying to Malta up to two or three times a year - and in May 2012 the couple finally managed to tie the knot in prison.
Guards waited outside of a locked room while a registrar conducted Daniel and Marzena's ceremony, with the bride in a floaty white dress with flowers in her hair.
Their eldest daughter, Rainbow, now four, was a bridesmaid and they had cake made by the prison bakery.
Although Marzena said: "It wasn't how we had dreamed our wedding would be," the couple were thrilled to finally be married, meaning they could try and book rare conjugal visits for some "quality alone time together."
Demand for visits was high so the couple had to join a waiting list for their turn, while continuing with visits were held in the main hall of the Corradino prison with 600 other prisoners and their families.
Marzena described the prison, saying: "The jail is dirty and the cells are small."
Daniel's flatmate was also convicted by a Maltese court for growing marijuana and he was found hanged in his cell in 2010.
Marzena described the conditions in the cells: "Daniel only has a small paper fan to keep cool and his room has COCKROACHES crawling up the walls."
But the two were delighted when their turn eventually came to spend time alone together, with Marzena saying: "Behind a locked door with no one between us me and Daniel couldn't help ourselves."
The couple only had two hours of private time, but "one thing led to another and we made love... so happy to be in one another's arms again".
However, when Marzena returned to Wales she began to feel the familiar symptoms of pregnancy, feeling sick and tired, similar to when she was pregnant with baby Rainbow.
She called her husband to break the news and he was over the moon, while the mum-to-be was "so happy I could have burst".
Baby daughter Blossom was born weighing 2kg and mum Marzena says she looks just like her dad.
She added: "Both she and her sister are my little angels and keep me strong every day while I wait for Daniel to come home. I love him with my whole heart."