Groom aged 31 dies just four days into honeymoon

A heartbroken bride is mourning her new husband who died four days into their honeymoon.

Aimee had been married to Alan Simms, 31, for just eight days when he was struck down with what they at first thought was food poisoning while on Cape Verde.

But Alan’s condition quickly deteriorated and he died in a clinic on the island.

A postmortem revealed the ­gardener had died of lung cancer, despite having had no signs or symptoms of the disease.

Today devastated Aimee, 33, said: “I just can’t understand it. In the space of 12 hours he had gone from being fine and dandy to ­having died. He didn’t have any signs of cancer. It was horrible.”

Alan, of Morley, West Yorkshire, started being violently sick on May 27. An emergency nurse diagnosed food poisoning but told Aimee
to take him to a clinic for tests.

She said: “I was just stood next to him in the clinic. He was really quiet. I was trying to reassure him.

“Then they asked me to leave as things got worse. I rang my mum crying.

“It was probably about an hour before someone came back to me. They asked me to go in a room, and that’s when I knew he was dead.”

Hundreds packed Cottingley Crematorium in Leeds last Friday to pay their respects to “Big Al”.

Aimee said: “I’ve cried so much I’m running out of tears.”