JIM Smith, 78, waited 20 years to marry his landlady - and was then kept waiting for his bride to arrive at the church.

Phyllis Prewett, 77, arrived 15 minutes late in a Rolls-Royce at St Peter's Church, Didcot, on Saturday.

Phyllis, who wore a lilac suit and cream blouse, said: "He had been waiting for 20 years so another 15 minutes wasn't going to hurt him! I'm glad we're finally married because he's a good man."

Jim has been a lodger of Phyllis's for 22 years. And, as reported exclusively in Saturday's Oxford Mail, he first asked her to marry him 20 years ago. She kept turning him down but Jim never gave up.

The former special constable courted her with chocolates and flowers until, finally, she agreed. He joked: "She kept me waiting again at the church so she'll have to go! Seriously though, it was a beautiful service and Phyllis has been well worth the wait."

The couple, of Lynmouth Road, Didcot, were offered a honeymoon trip to Paris by a family friend but had to postpone their plans after Phyllis, who has Parkinson's Disease, fell down stairs at her granddaughter's home in Essex five weeks ago.

She broke her arm and five ribs and was in Southend General Hospital until just a week before the wedding. But Phyllis was able to walk down the aisle before sitting down for the wedding vows.

She warned her new husband that she planned to have more than one brandy and cokes at the reception, held at The Waterwitch pub in Didcot, to numb the pain!The couple, plan to have a honeymoon later in the year.

Phyllis added: "We were both just very happy. It was a lovely service and everything went perfectly."

The chief bridesmaid was her 13-year-old granddaughter Michelle Prewett, with the other bridesmaids being great-granddaughters Amelia and Georgia Chambers, aged seven and five, Sophie and Jamie-Lee Johns, aged six and four, and three-year-old Jodie Wittington.

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