But having returned to his old life on the other side of the country, the rope access technician was dealing with his own problems after an injury kept him away from work.
“Richie was struggling with money at that time,” says a friend.
“He had taken a lot of time off work for filming commitments and then months more doing the publicity circuit with Alex. His diminishing bank balance had started to worry him.”
“She was lonely and going through some tough times. She wanted Richie by her side and for them to be a family, but he didn’t want to keep spending money on flights unless they were getting paid for it.”