My partner was sexting while on holiday with our kids & getting nookie on his bin round – he became a stranger overnight
CLAIRE HALEY, 35, thought Ross Rosario was the perfect partner and dad.
But the bin man’s dirty secret left her and their children heartbroken.
CURLED up on the sofa one balmy evening in August, Claire Haley saw her partner Ross’s phone light up.
The 39-year-old bin man had popped upstairs to check on their seven-year-old son, Marco, who was brushing his teeth.
“I wasn’t looking intentionally, but I could see he’d received a message,” says Claire, who is an early years worker.
The three words on the screen made her feel physically sick.
“I love you,” the message read.
The name of the sender was someone called Charlotte.
No apologies
Claire says: “With my stomach lurching, I confronted Ross as he walked into the kitchen.
“He instantly knew something was wrong because I was shaking and crying.”
But instead of trying to justify or explain his actions, Ross angrily snatched the phone out of Claire’s hand.
She says: “His eyes darkened and he looked like he’d been possessed.
“He just looked at me and said, ‘We’re done, we’re done’.
“It was the worst feeling I’d ever known in my life.
“It was as if I was watching a scene from a film, like it wasn’t actually happening to me.”
As Claire comforted their sobbing children, Ross calmly packed two suitcases and called a taxi.
There were no goodbyes or words of apology.
Research shows that three in five cheats are now caught out thanks to evidence on phones and other electronic devices.
Shortly after Ross walked out on her, Claire discovered he had been sexting 27-year-old mum-of-one Charlotte Hunter for two months, sharing dozens of explicit photos.
The affair came as even more of a shock as Claire had believed he was the perfect family man.
She says: “I first met Ross through mutual friends on a day out in Waltham Abbey in August 2010.
“He asked a pal who I was and told them that he fancied me.
“He then got in touch and we started dating.
“There was nothing not to like about Ross.
“With his Sicilian background, he oozed Italian charm but he was also kind and brilliant around small children.
“I was so smitten that when he told me he was a bin man, I didn’t mind the thought of smelly clothes and grubby fingernails.”
Claire thought she had found her Prince Charming in Ross, who was her first proper boyfriend.
After two months of dating, the couple moved into a house in Waltham Cross, Herts, together.
She says: “Working with children, I always knew that I wanted kids of my own and Ross was desperate to be a dad too.
“So when I got pregnant and gave birth to our son Luca in February 2013, it felt as if everything had fallen perfectly into place.
“Although I knew Ross wanted a daughter, he doted on our baby boy and showered me with compliments, telling me what a great mum I was and calling me beautiful.
“On Facebook, he’d leave comments like, ‘My wonderful family’ under my photos, calling me ‘babygirl’.
“I trusted him and he trusted me.
“The thought of him ever cheating just seemed ridiculous.”
Living with a bin man, Claire was used to Ross’ brutally early starts.
We’d always enjoyed a healthy sex life, but it was as if we’d only just met.
Claire Haley
“Every day, he would wake up at 4.30am to get to work by 5.00am,” she says.
“He’d give me a map of his bin-collecting round, showing me exactly which route he took and how long it would take.
“Sometimes he’d finish as early as 11am or midday and if he said he was coming home at a certain time, he would.”
When Claire got pregnant again in 2017, Ross was on cloud nine.
After their second son, Marco, was born, the family of four moved to their “forever home” in Hoddesdon, Herts.
She says: “Life was great.
“We’d take walks in the park, go to the cinema, have picnics, visit museums and holiday at Butlin’s every year.”
But a week before Ross’ cheating came to light, the family enjoyed an idyllic seven-day holiday in Lanzarote.
Claire says “The kids played in the pool and Ross and I chatted happily on the hotel sun loungers.
“It was perfect in every way.
Explicit photos
“Ross and I were intimate, too.
“We’d always enjoyed a healthy sex life, but it was as if we’d only just met. One night, we even had sex in the shower.”
But after returning from their blissful break, the mum-of-two’s world came crashing down after Ross’s love-rat ways came to light.
After he packed his bags and left, Claire took herself to her mum Diane’s house.
She says: “Mum had been cheated on herself, so she knew what it was like. But she and Ross had always been close, so she was gutted about what had happened.
“She thought that if I gave him some time to calm down, he’d realise he was in the wrong and would come home. But it never happened.”
Days later, Ross told a sobbing Claire that their relationship was over for good.
She said: “He just kept repeating, ‘We’re done,’ followed by ‘I don’t want you any more’.”
They’d have a quick bit of nookie and then he’d go back to fetching the rubbish again.
Claire Haley
Desperate, Claire told him: “I’ll do anything, I’ll change.” But Ross stayed silent.
“He wasn’t defensive at all,” she says. “He was so calm, choosing his words carefully and not stumbling over a single one.”
Suddenly, Claire felt like the man she had loved for nearly 15 years was a total stranger.
But there was worse to come.
Three weeks later, after charging an old phone that Ross said he would give to Luca, Claire found hundreds of TikTok messages to and from Charlotte — explicit photos accompanied by graphic comments.
While he, Claire and their kids were on holiday in Lanzarote, Ross had taken a picture of his manhood to send to Charlotte, who had clearly been with a female friend at the time.
Claire explains: “I worked it all out from there. He’d visit Charlotte after his bin round and she’d give him breakfast.
“They’d have a quick bit of sex and then he’d go. It beggars belief.”
After finding Charlotte’s Facebook page, Claire was devastated to find she had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like hers.
‘It broke my heart’
Claire adds: “She wore glasses like me and she even had the same initials. It was like a blow to the chest and at one point, I was physically sick in the bathroom.”
Ross and Charlotte are now living together a ten-minute drive from Claire and are forging a new life as a couple.
She says: “The other day, Marco asked, ‘Why is Daddy going home to a new little girl?’ It broke my heart.
“What are you supposed to say to a seven-year-old who can’t understand why his lying dad upped and left him?
“It’s a case of putting my best foot forward for the kids and me.
“I found out the hard way that my bin man was trash after all.”
Ross says: “I am with Charlotte now. I didn’t just unpack and re-pack my case after the holiday.
“I’d known Charlotte before I started emptying her bins.
“We had an affair and we are together now.”
Sneaky signals: How to catch a cheater by phone
Psychologist Emma Kenny reveals the red flags you should look for on cheats’ mobile phones . . .
NOTIFICATIONS GOING SILENT: When someone is trying to hide something, they often silence alerts.
PASSWORD CHANGES: If your partner has always been open with their phone access and suddenly changes their password, it’s time to ask why.
DELETED MESSAGES AND CALL LOGS: If you’ve noticed suspicious behaviour, checking call logs or messages could confirm your worries. A cheater is likely to delete messages, call logs or entire apps.
EXCESSIVE SOCIAL MEDIA AND CHAT APP USE: Pay attention to which apps they are using most often and if they use private chat functions more.
ACTING ODD AROUND THEIR PHONE: If they take their phone to the bathroom more than usual, or angle it from your view, they may be hiding something.
SECOND NUMBER: Even if they claim it’s a work or emergency phone, a second device is a red flag.
UNKNOWN NAMES: Be wary of any new or unfamiliar contacts saved under suspicious names.