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Local woman Beth Hannay (63) has momentarily entertained the thought that her dream husband of four decades might be living a double life and psychopathic con artist.
While deep in a Netflix binge, Beth can’t help but think her husband Guy’s ‘good guy’ attributes might actually be part of a persona aimed at secretly doing heroin behind her back and stealing from her.
Dirty John documents the whirlwind romance of Debra Newell and con-man John Meehan after meeting on an over-50s dating site in 2014 – a romance that ended very violently after months of abuse and lies.
Guy Hannay, who has made a few cracks throughout the series about how he might just be using his homemaker wife for her money, didn’t really think she’d take it seriously.
After several suspicious side-glances, Guy catches on to his wife’s half-serious internal dialogue.
“Seriously, Beth!?” he asks.
“Do you really think if I was a Dirty John I’d still be living here driving a ten-year-old landcruiser?”
Beth’s eyes squint, as she continues to think back over the last forty years.
“Well…” she says.
“This show just goes to show how hard these people can be to pick. I’m keeping my eye on you”
Beth, who is still kind of not joking, turns back to the TV and tries to reminisce on any Dirty John-like behaviour over the course of their marriage.
She decides that considering none of their four daughters ever bringing up the fact that their dad might be psychopathic manipulator, she might be alright for now.