Sunday, December 06, 2009
The Amazing Person That Was Meredith Kercher #3: The UK People Interviews Ex-Boyfriend In Australia
Posted by Peter Quennell
We knew of David Cronin because he took the photo of Meredith for her former Facebook space.
David Collins and Grant Hodgson have en exclusive interview with him. He is now a player with a soccer team at Musgrave on the Queensland Gold Coast south of Brisbane.
The shattered ex-boyfriend of murdered Meredith Kercher said last night he would be “forever haunted” by the horrendous violence of her death.
Footballer Patrick Cronin, 24, spoke out for the first time about the Perugia trial and the loving relationship he had with the girl he called “Mez”.
Patrick insisted Meredith was “no prude” but that she would never have willingly taken part in the kinky sex games Knox and Sollecito tried to lure her into.
Speaking from Australia, where he now lives, he said: “She was a kind, loving person who was friendly to everyone she met. She did not deserve to die like that and Knox is damned for what she did.
“I can never stop thinking of the terror she must have felt in that final hour. It is something that will forever haunt me.”
In an exclusive interview with The People, Patrick said he and Meredith had enjoyed a “loving, special” relationship. He said: “Questions have been raised about her sex life since she was killed and it’s wrong. She wasn’t into playing any sexual games, threesomes or anything kinky.
“Once, I texted her messages that started to become very suggestive and steamy and she pulled me up saying, ‘Whoa, let’s calm this down’. I ask myself how these killers could have done this.”
Patrick was working as a croupier and living in Hendon, North London, when he first met Meredith, then a Leeds University student, in 2005.
He fell for her at first sight in a nightclub in Kingston, south-west London and “sparks flew” as they chatted. They went on to share a string of dates and she excitedly told him she wanted to go and study in Italy.
Eventually their romance ended but they kept in touch on Facebook, even after Patrick moved Down Under with his parents.
Now playing with the Musgrave Mustangs soccer club on Queensland’s Gold Coast, he heard of Meredith’s death while doing a course on sports science.
He said: “I came out of an exam and my brother called to say it was all over the news. I went into shock.
“I had never before experienced anyone close to me dying, let alone being horrifically killed.”
Patrick said he had re-read messages he received from Meredith since the end of the trial. He added: “I will never delete them.
“I just hope the outcome of the court case brings some comfort to her family.”
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