Ricky Hatton had 11-month affair with me, says girl fighter

"I really fell for him but then he dumped me to go back to fiancee Jen," Emma Bowe Shamed boxer Ricky Hatton cheated on his devoted fiancée by embarking on a passionate 11-month affair with a female fighter – after she asked him for his autograph. The former world champion went behind the back of his loyal bride-to-be Jennifer Dooley and jumped into bed with blonde Emma Bowe during a string of hotel sex sessions. In their most recent meeting, just weeks ago, “Hitman” Hatton snorted lines of cocaine then slept with Emma at a hotel a stone’s throw from the £3million mansion he shares with his fiancée – which they’ve named “Heartbreak Hotel”. Our revelations will devastate former college lecturer Jennifer, who is currently helping her best friend Coleen Rooney cope with husband Wayne’s cheating. Trusting Jennifer, 31, has already been floored by video footage which emerged last month of Hatton snorting line after line of cocaine. She vowed to stand by Ricky, who has checked into rehab, after his public exposure for drug abuse. But his heartless betrayal of her with smitten Emma will put his and Jennifer’s five-year relationship under tremendous strain. Today, in an exclusive interview, Emma tells how Ricky promised to dump his fiancée for her after she was flattered by his attentions. And she warns that dad-of-one Hatton, 31, will die unless he kicks the drugs which now blight his life. “When I went to bed with Ricky, it was like my dreams had come true,” Emma, 29, said. “He was my idol and I couldn’t believe he wanted to be with me. I knew about Jennifer and how she was his fiancée, but I was just so flattered Ricky was interested in me. We had a wild time together. "He’d snort cocaine before sex, then want to cuddle up afterwards and watch a love film. "I saw a side to Ricky people don’t see. He’s kind and gentle. He’s like a teddy bear - and I fell hopelessly in love.” Emma – current Irish senior women’s boxing champion – met Hatton last October when he flew to Dublin promoting a new crop of boxers. Emma, who is set to compete for Ireland in the 2012 Olympics, travelled with a pal from her hometown of Bundoran, County Donegal in the hope of seeing him. “Ricky’s my favourite boxer and I’d go out of my way to see his fights,” Emma says. “My dad and I would buy them on pay-per-view and get up at 3am to watch his US fights. "When he lost to Manny Pacquiao (in May last year), I cried my eyes out.” Star-struck Emma, an events manager, went to Jury’s Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin where Ricky was staying. “He was in a tracksuit and a cap and didn’t look sexy, but my heart still leapt when I saw him. There were hundreds around so I just sat in the bar. Minutes later, he walked in and ordered a Guinness. I plucked up the courage to introduce myself and told him I was a boxer. "He was polite and I had a picture taken with him. He kept staring at me and when I got up to go, he asked if I wanted to meet later. He grinned, ‘I’ll look better when you get back. Nice and dapper’.” Later, as promised, Hatton was waiting with a bottle of white wine on ice for her. “I never thought Ricky would be there,” Emma says. “He was dressed smartly. I thought, ‘Wow, he’s really making an effort’.” Ricky and Emma went to Dublin nightclub The Wright Venue, where Hatton sank pint after pint of Guinness. Then, when Emma came out of the toilets in a VIP-section of the bar, Ricky was waiting. “He grabbed my hand and kissed me,” she said. “I was shocked and said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘Shouldn’t I be doing that?’ But before I could answer he’d kissed me again. We were surrounded by models in the club who had all been flirting with Ricky – but he only had eyes for me.” Brazen Hatton, reputed to be worth £50million at the height of his success , kissed and cuddled Emma all night, making no effort to hide it from other clubbers – as Jennifer waited at their home 160 miles away across the Irish Sea. “People were taking pictures. I said, ‘Ricky, we should be careful’…but he didn’t care. It was like Ricky wanted to be caught. "I did think about Jennifer and was in two minds. I felt bad because I’d hate to be cheated on. But when he kissed me, I didn’t want it to end.” Ricky then invited Emma back to his hotel room. She says: “He treated me like we’d been together for years. Lots of hugging, kissing and affection. “After we had sex, I was in the bathroom and he came up behind me, gave me a hug and rested his head on my shoulders. He said, ‘You are a gorgeous girl, I’m so glad I met you’. I felt like the luckiest girl alive.” The next morning Emma prepared to sneak out, assuming it had been a one-night stand. But Hatton insisted she stay and they spent three days together. Emma has photos of a naked Hatton sprawled on the bed, covered partly by a duvet, during the three-day romp. And she has photos of the tattoo on his back, reading: “Hitman ... Pride in Battle”. Emma says Hatton never mentioned Jennifer, who has been at ringside for all of his battles and who he proudly took to Buckingham Palace in 2007 to collect his MBE. But he DID speak to her on the phone…while having sex with Emma. “His mobile rang and I said, ‘Leave it’,” recalls Emma. “But he said, ‘No’. He spoke coldly like she was just an acquaintance. He didn’t bother saying, ‘I love you’. Then we carried on having sex. Afterwards, I asked if he had to check in with her and he said, ‘No, I do what I want’.” When talking in interviews about Jennifer, however, Hatton is always careful to gush praise and admiration. And he romantically proposed to her on Valentine’s Day last year . Yet, says Emma, Hatton was brazen about his affair with her. “It was like I was a girlfriend rather than a secret lover,” she says. “He wanted to hold hands all the time.” While in Dublin, Emma saw the first signs of Ricky’s cocaine habit. “He was rummaging in his pocket when he pulled out a bag. Inside was cocaine. I couldn’t believe it. But I thought challenging Ricky about the drugs would make him angry – so I kept my mouth shut.” They swapped numbers when Ricky left Dublin, but Emma never expected to hear from him. However, a fortnight later, a text arrived – the first of several messages and calls. Manchester City fan Hatton bragged he’d introduce her to his celeb pals. “He’d say, ‘Come over and we’ll go for a drink with Wayne and Noel’. I asked, ‘Are they school friends?’ and he’d laugh, ‘No, Wayne Rooney and Noel Gallagher’.” The pair next met up on December 3 in Dublin where Emma joined Hatton in a hotel for another sex session. Then, in March, he invited her to stay in a Premier Inn hotel near the Manchester Evening News Arena – scene of so many of his great fights – for another romp. It was here, Emma says, that Hatton said he loved her and tried to persuade her to give up her own boxing. She says: “He stroked my face and said ‘You’re gorgeous, I don’t want to see you getting hurt, would you quit for me?’. I told him I’d think about it and asked about Jennifer and all he said was, ‘Look, things can change’.” The last time Emma slept with him was at the end of August after they attended a cage-fighting contest in Altrincham. They stayed at the Bowdon Hotel close to Hatton’s home in Hyde and Emma noticed a difference. “He seemed nervous. I suspected he’d taken something. I said ‘You like a bit of coke, don’t you?’ He said, ‘Yeah and I have some on me now’ and asked me if I wanted some. I said it wasn’t my thing and he replied, ‘Well, if you haven’t done it, I don’t want to be the first person to give it to you’. “When we got back to the room, he was snorting a lot of cocaine.” Video footage then emerged of Hatton snorting coke in the hotel room. He later issued a grovelling apology to his fans. Ricky is now being treated at London’s Priory clinic and hasn’t spoken to Emma since. Meanwhile, she has received death threats from people who believe she set Hatton up – something she strenuously denies. She said: “I am worried for him, but this could be the wake-up call Ricky needs. “I love him to bits and am devastated it’s all over. I adore him and I just want to see him get clean.”