Kerry Katona WEDDING: 'A match made in hell' says ex

AS Kerry Katona prepares for her Valentine's Day wedding to coke-dealing cabbie Mark Croft, his ex has warned her: "He'll never be faithful and he'll bleed you dry."

Julie Shuker, who dated Croft for almost four years, has revealed how he BULLIED her into taking drugs, CHEATED with a string of other women and NAGGED her to give in to his bizarre sexual demands.

And when it was over he lumbered her with thousands of pounds of debt.

"Mark is very greedy and money orientated. I hate to say it but I think one of the main reasons he's with her is because she's a millionaire," said Julie.

She fears Kerry, 26, who has two daughters by Westlife star Brian McFadden and is expecting Croft's baby in April, will live to regret it if she goes ahead with the wedding at Gretna Green.

Julie, 38, met Croft—exposed by us last year as a dealer who supplied Kerry and her mum Sue with cocaine—just after he'd been jailed for taking drugs in the Navy. And she reveals he bullied her into using them too.

"I have only ever taken drugs twice in my life and that was with Mark. I didn't want to but felt pressured into doing it," she said.

The first time, Julie ended up collapsed in a nightclub toilet after taking an ecstasy pill. She recalled: "We were out and Mark gave me a tablet and told me it was ecstasy. He said, ‘Go on, have one. It'll make you feel good'. I said, ‘I don't want to, I don't want to die'. He told me I would be fine and I felt pressured to take it. Stupidly I did."

Twenty minutes later she felt strange. Julie added: "I remember going to the toilet. Then the next thing I remember is a girl picking me up off the floor.

Sleazy

"She took me to Mark and he just draped me over his shoulder and dragged me around all night."

Croft, 35, also persuaded a besotted Julie, who said he seemed the ‘perfect man' when they first met, to agree to sleazy sex romps. Julie, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: "We had a balcony with a banister on it. He tied me to it with a pair of tights and blindfolded me and we had sex. I felt degraded and was glad when it was over, but Mark got a kick out of it."

On another occasion he begged her to plaster HIM with make-up. "It was weird because it wasn't like he was drunk. I put full make-up on him, right down to bright red lipstick.

"He looked in the mirror and it was clear he was turned on by it." The pair then had "pretty explosive" sex. "I knew it was because he was getting a kick out of looking like a woman. It was very bizarre," said Julie.

In a warning to Kerry, Julie revealed that the danger of getting caught in the act was also a thrill for Croft. He would drive her to a local beauty spot to have sex in the car—or sometimes stay much closer to home.

"Once he told me to walk out of the house in just my coat, so I was naked underneath. We'd only walked to the end of the path when he started kissing and groping me.

"We had sex there and then outside while people were wandering around the estate. Getting caught was a big thrill for him," she said.

Julie and Croft split up in 1997 after she suspected he had cheated on her and his drug taking spiralled out of control.

"I went home and packed his stuff and he left. I was heartbroken but after we broke up I heard lots of stories about him cheating on me with a total of four different women and knew I'd done the right thing," she said.

Croft had also left Julie £5,000 of debt. "Because Mark had been in the Navy for years he had no credit rating so when he took out a loan to go on holiday, and another to buy a car, I was put down as guarantor.

Sad

"When he left I got letters from the loan company, demanding the money back."

Two years later Mark started calling Julie again, begging her to give him another chance.

She started seeing him again and it was during this time he persuaded her to take cocaine, promising "it will relax you".

Julie recalled: "I snorted one line to stop him going on. But I didn't feel anything. I don't know if I did it properly."

In 2000 she dumped him for good. "I knew we'd never be happy," she said. And she fears he is already making Kerry's life hell.

"I met Kerry a few months before she met Mark and she was a lovely, bubbly girl.

"Now I look at her and she looks so sad. Her eyes look dead. It's heartbreaking to see her because I know the misery that lies ahead. It's clear he's already making her unhappy."

Read the shocking emails celebrity mum Kerry Katona

HATE-FILLED Kerry Katona threatened to set fire to her ex-best pal's car with her inside it.

The Iceland TV ads star made the chilling threat in a bombardment of emails she sent to mum-to-be Michelle Hunter for spilling the beans over her drug-taking.

And we can reveal terrified Michelle called in the police after receiving the firebomb message.

The email, sent in the early hours last Tuesday, said: "Your car will be torched yes torched with u in it yes.ur not even worth me lifting my finger to write this message;bye ur boring me."

In a bizarre twist, 26-year-old Kerry's spokesman Max Clifford first confessed to the News of the World that she HAD sent Michelle hate-emails...only to ring us back with a spluttering denial just over an hour later.

As police confirmed they were investigating the case, Michelle, 27, told us: "Kerry knows I'm pregnant and I could lose my baby because of this. It's like she's gone completely mad. I'm petrified — it's like I'm being stalked."

The former best friends fell out 18 months ago when Michelle told how Kerry — twice voted celebrity mum of the year — went wild on booze and cocaine following the breakdown of her marriage to Westlife star Brian McFadden.

"The nasty emails started coming a few months ago but I ignored them," said Michelle. "Then on Monday it got out of control. It was tirade after tirade of abuse."

One called Michelle a "f*****g Kerry wannabee" and bragged:

"The nearest u will get to be as close as me is the checkout at Iceland. even ur own sister hates u. cant wait to bump into u. Bye de byes. i will write again soon when i remember what other bullsh*t u fed me. get a life looser. bye fatty."

Another cruelly took a swipe at Michelle's unborn child: "say hi to the father thats if you know who it is."

Then came a sinister phone call. Michelle said: "It was a man's voice and he said, ‘I'm going to torch your car, with you in it'.

"The next morning I picked up the email from Kerry, sent in the early hours of Tuesday, saying exactly the same thing."

All the emails came through the Friends Reunited site from Jayne Katona — Kerry's middle name. She is listed as a former pupil of Padgate High School in Warrington, Cheshire.

Michelle, who was a bridesmaid at Kerry's wedding, said: "We used to talk about being on Friends Reunited.

"She uses the name Jayne to stop nutters from outside Warrington contacting her."

We put Michelle's claims to Kerry's spokesman Mr Clifford. This was his initial response:

Saturday, 1.15pm: "Everyone knows that Kerry is at her wit's end over the behaviour of this person (Michelle). Of course Kerry shouldn't have made these threats and said what she said. But I want to stress that she didn't mean those words. It was a hollow threat."

But for some strange reason he called us back 65 minutes later, frantically changing his tune.

2.20pm:"Kerry says she would never have threatened to trash Michelle's car. She swears on her babies' lives that it is not true."

Cheshire police have confirmed they are looking into the case.

"A complaint has been made and is under investigation," said a spokesman.

Kerry has attacked Michelle before — physically. Last December when they bumped into each other at Dublin airport she hit her with a suitcase.

"She was screaming at the top of her voice, ‘You're dead, you best be scared because you know I'll do it'," said Michelle. "The police are now monitoring my calls and emails—and I'm glad.

"Kerry has lost the plot—I just wish I'd never been friends with her. It wasn't worth this misery."

I'm Kerrying another of Bryan's babies

I'm Kerrying another of Bryan's babies

 
KERRY KATONA and hubby Bryan McFadden are expecting a baby which they conceived in the same hotel room as daughter Molly.

Last night Bryan, my old mate from Westlife, told me exclusively: "It's amazing but it's true.

"Let that be a warning to any couple staying in room 308 at London's Chelsea Conrad Hotel."

The pregnancy would appear to seal a future for the couple which looked rocky after Bryan confessed to a stag night romp with a lapdancer. He told me it was a "moment of madness."

Former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry is due to give birth in February. Bryan explained: "Westlife were in London on tour and Kerry had come to see me for the night before flying back to Dublin.

"A month ago she started feeling sick. We got a home pregnancy test and when Kerry came out of the bathroom smiling we screamed and hugged each other. It was the best feeling—just like when we knew we were going to have Molly.

"But this time we definitely want a boy. I want him to play soccer for Ireland when he grows up. We can't wait for our new addition."

Bryan also revealed the family are selling their two Dublin apartments and buying a $1million farmhouse "with loads of land for the kids to play in."

I was the first journalist to reveal that he and Kerry were an item in January 2000.

Molly was born last September and the couple married in January. I was one of 500 wedding guests.