Gemma and Leonel Vasquez got married at a prison in Virginia on December 29 closing yr (Picture: SWNS)

A Scottish girl who married a rapist serving two decades in a US prison stated ‘he’s performed such a lot to raised himself’ at the back of bars.

Gemma and Leonel Vasquez wed on December 29 ultimate 12 months, in spite of dwelling more than THREE,500 miles aside and Vasquez being incarcerated.

Gemma, from Glasgow, was once not cast off by means of her new husband’s 2011 rape conviction, pronouncing: ‘I’m no longer marrying his previous and he was very, very young when it came about.’

The admin employee met Vasquez through his mum, after she became Gemma’s Spanish trainer in July 2020.

Gemma first emailed Vasquez, from Washington, in February 2021 and the 2 hit it off, chatting on the phone for the primary time five months later.

Gemma mentioned: ‘I nonetheless get the butterflies on every occasion he calls or his name pops up on a message. I’m at all times so tremendous excited.

I just thought I’d meet a man here in Scotland.’

Gemma met Vasquez through her Spanish trainer who used to be his mum (Picture: SWNS)

Vasquez proposed to Gemma and despatched her an engagement ring closing July (Image: SWNS)

While Gemma heard approximately Vasquez’s crimes, Gemma thought ‘that’s an overly serious thing to be convicted of’.

However she went on: ‘I requested him to tell me the whole tale on the telephone – that was very important to me. I felt very reassured by means of speaking to him approximately it, and also by way of his whole family.’

She first travelled to Virginia to go to Vasquez in April ultimate 12 months and Vasquez proposed over the telephone in July, with the couple making plans to marry this year.

but the rapist stunned Gemma and secretly organised for their wedding ceremony to take place while she flew over to go to once more in December.

they had the rite underneath a Christmas tree within the jail’s vacationing room with two guards present.

Both households fortify the union.

Vasquez is hoping to be launched from prison early as a result of his good behaviour (Image: SWNS)

Gemma stated: ‘Love doesn’t wait. in case you’re called to marry somebody you don’t must cling on for a large day, big get dressed, or massive cake. We’re looking to the future.

‘I’ve all the time just taken him on how he treats me right now. It’s about who he’s as an individual. He’s a grafter – he’s always learning, operating and revising.

‘i truly didn’t know the way it might work out being so far away and him now not unfastened, but we simply fell in love.’

Vasquez expects to be released from jail in the subsequent 4 years as a result of his just right behaviour.

He said: ‘I longed for someone to actually love me for who i am. However I Assumed: “Why might somebody need me?”

‘it is not easy to be in a dating with any person that is incarcerated. you are doing time with them it takes a different type of person to truly make that commitment.

‘Ever considering the fact that she mentioned yes, it has been a fairy tale.