‘I wouldn’t change it’: Man who stood by paedophile wife after conviction opens up about his decision to finally split
14 July 2023, 19:35 | Updated: 14 July 2023, 19:42
A man whose wife was jailed for having sex with a 15-year-old pupil has opened up about why he decided to stay with her for so many years after announcing their divorce.
Kandice Barber, 36, was sentenced to more than six years in jail in March 2021.
She was convicted of grooming a child and causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.
The 36-year-old exchanged sexually explicit messages with a teen boy, aged 15, in 2018 on Snapchat, as well as later having sex with him in a field in behaviour that was labelled “beyond despicable” by the judge who convicted her.
Kandice’s mother says the 36-year-old still denies the charges made against her.
But despite the mum-of-three being convicted of having sex with an underage pupil in a field, her husband Daniel Barber, 40, stuck by her side, even shouting “it’s a joke” from the courtroom.
Daniel and Kandice had been together since 2015. He vowed to stick by her side following her conviction – but now he’s announced their split after years of staying loyal.
The 40-year-old said they split up about two years ago, and that he’s now happily in a new relationship with a new partner, he told The Sun.
Read more: Woman and partner who enslaved vulnerable disabled husband in squalor jailed for 11 years
According to Daniel, his decision to stay with Kandice was because he felt he had no reason to doubt her version of events and he wanted to prevent her three children from being taken into care.
“She’s been in prison for three years, we haven’t been together for over two years,” he said.
“I was always brought up until you’ve proven guilty, or not guilty, why should I not stand by someone?
“So I stood by someone in the belief they were innocent and that everything’s going to be fine.
“I stood by her because she had kids, and I didn’t want the kids to be taken into care.”
But after years together Daniel decided he couldn’t carry on anymore, and eventually filed for divorce.
His decision was motivated by his experience of personal loss, as Daniel realised he couldn’t bear the grief alone.
“In that whole first year I lost my stepdad and then my sister died,” he said.
“The one person that should have been there for me wasn’t.
“When you’re married to someone and someone dies in your family, the one person you want is the person you’re married to or you’re with to support you, and I didn’t have that.”
Two years on, Daniel is now happy with his new girlfriend Charlotte, as he said: “I’ve moved on, I’m happy, nothing will bring me down.
“It’s taken me a long way to get where I am, but I wouldn’t turn back the clocks and change anything because going through this stuff has made me who I am today.”
