Woman who loves to marry criminals man on death row •Fell in love with an inmate at HM prison •Now set to marry man on death row

THE average woman would certainly avoid dating a known criminal and seeking out murders on Death Row for marriage would be a no-no but increasing number of British women are throwing caution to the wind and following love wherever it takes them even if it is with inmates on Death Row. It is estimated that more than a hundred British women are currently emotionally involved with Death Row inmates and mother-of-one Anna Curtis has joined the list after she fall in love with US inmate William Speer during an eight month writing spree.

Ms. Curtis is no stranger to prison romance. She was once romantically involved with an inmate in HMPrison Birminghamuk who was serving time for manslaughter. 
When he got out, they continued their romance for another eight years before the relationship broke down six years ago. Now, Ms. Curtis has found love again in another inmate but this time, across the Atlantic. 

Six- foot-nine- inch 39-year-old William Speer who is currently on Death Row in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Texas was imprisoned at age 16 and given a life sentence in 1991 for shooting and killing a man. He however got himself on Death Row in 1997 for strangling an inmate.

The pair began their affair in January after an Organization, which organizes pen pals for criminals on death row passed on Mr. Speer’s details. The organization’s aim is to provide prisoners with friendship, legal aid and employment; romance is highly discouraged but not prohibited.

To get a feel of whom she was about dealing with, Ms. Curtis GoogledSpeer before writing him.

'I wasn't bothered about what he'd done in the past; I just wanted to put a face to a name,' she said. 

'With some people, you can see the evil in their eyes, but just from looking at his photo on the internet, I knew he wasn't like that.

So far, they have exchanged hundreds of love letters and even have pet names for each other. She calls him her “gentle giant” and he calls her his “peach”

Their relationship entails the norm in any long distance relationship. They share details of their day, how they feel, and what it will feel like to meet for the first time. 
The letters even get kinky at times. Since Speer was jailed at 16, he has never been with a woman and admits to getting horny when reading her letters. 

'He says he gets horny reading my letters, and I'm not surprised, being inside and away from women all that time.'

The 47 –year-old from Mitcham London, who has never been abroad before, has just applied for her first passport so she can visit her hubby.

Though Speer has not popped the question yet, they are already discussing marriage. The subject came up after Ms Curtis sent Speer a suggestive letter. 

‘When you're exchanging letters with prisoners in America, if you put the stamp on the envelope in a certain position, it means something. 

'So I put the stamp to the side, thinking it meant "hugs and kisses", but actually it meant "marry me,"' she explained.

'We laughed about it afterwards, but I knew he was interested because we began talking about how we'd tie the knot when I visit.'

Ms Curtis admits she is besotted. 

'No-one's ever asked to marry me before, and it's something I've always dreamed of doing since I was a little girl.

'If he did ask, I'd definitely accept because I'd want him to know that I'd be there for him no matter what.'

But for now, Ms Curtis is content to exchange letters with her lover.

'He's a massive flirt. When he writes to me he calls me his peach, and I get butterflies in my stomach,' she said.

Understanding her relationship might be hard for others to comprehend, Ms. Curtis gave an insight into how she got hooked.

‘Some people do find our relationship hard to understand. But I didn't start writing to Will with the intention of falling in love, it just happened.'

The claim that starting a relationship with an inmate was not the intention has been used, by most women who are emotionally involved with inmates especially those on Death Row who have committed heinous crimes.  They claim to have been swept off their feet and take it to mean love but is it really love?Or a hidden psychological problem?

According to psychologists, by aligning themselves with a murderer, some women may be vicariously enacting their own desires. While others are simply looking for affection and it may not even be a sexually intimate relationship that the woman's trying to achieve, just that layer of intimacy that they know someone that cares for them is there.

Ms Curtis has her won theory on why she is drawn to inmates. She is sympathetic towards inmates. Having all her six brothers behind bars might also explain why she might feel more relaxed than most with inmates.

'I've got heart,' said Ms Curtis, 'because not a lot of people would bother writing to prisoners’.

Indeed William Speer is not the only Death Row inmate Ms Curtis has communicated with. She exchanged two letters with the Cross Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells- who claimed responsibility for the vicious murder of more than 70 men, women and children.