Mother leaves husband for stepson - then dumps him for his best friend

A mother-of-three who ran off with her teenage stepson has dumped him - for his 20-year-old best friend. Dawn Smith, 35, left husband Andrew, 38, for his son Ben just months after meeting him. The pair became lovers after Ben, 18, tracked down his estranged dad on Facebook after years of separation.

Dawn has now told how it is now over ... and how she has exchanged Ben for his friend Mark Donnison. "Ben and I loved each other but in the end it was just too difficult to stay together," says care assistant Dawn. "Andrew never came to terms with it and gave us too much grief. Ben's his son and I'm his ex-wife and the mother of his other three children. I suppose it was doomed from the start. Falling in love with Mark was something I didn't see coming. But now my life is perfect.



"Ben and I split last Christmas," adds Dawn. "Ben showed Mark my picture and one day I got a text from Mark out of the blue. I was flattered and we started chatting. He confided in me about his tough upbringing. I'm a good listener and we just seemed to click. We arranged to meet and it was love at first sight. Our first kiss was amazing. I knew straight away that we were destined to be together. It felt like I had known him for years." Bizarrely, Ben has remained friends with Dawn and Mark and all three share nights out in York.

Dawn says: "We told Ben that we were an item and he was surprisingly good about it. He said he knew that he and I had no future and that me ending up with Mark was great." In May this year, Mark moved in with Dawn and her children - Rebecca, 14, and twins Harry and Abigail, eight. "He became a father figure," she says. "He's brilliant at it too. The kids love him. People will think it's bizarre, but Ben even lived with us for a few months this summer," she says. "It wasn't at all awkward. Don't forget, Rebecca and Abigail and Harry are Ben's half brother and sisters - it gave them all a chance to be together!"