HUSBAND Joe Tindale has proved three is not a crowd after giving his blessing to his wife's new boyfriend.

Joe was forced to go into residential care after suffering a series of strokes, leaving his devoted wife of 30 years, Mary, home alone.

But Mary has now found love again in the form of Stan Watson after Joe encouraged her to find new friends.

Mary, 50, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, said she had never planned the love triangle and was simply looking for friendship.

She said "Joe had his first stroke at 39 and by the time he was 50 had had nine. He is paralysed down one side and his speech is very slurred. He had been in and out of homes for respite care for a few years and eventually decided to stay permanently.

"In some ways it was a relief because I had been struggling to cope, but it was heartbreaking. We had been married nearly 30 years."

Lonely Mary, who had adopted two children with Joe, noticed an ad placed by Stan in the personal section of her local paper.

Mary and Stan, 51, soon became friends and Joe even asked his wife to bring Stan to meet him.

However, it wasn't long before Stan and Mary realised they wanted to be more than just friends and had fallen in love. Mary said: "Joe was fantastic about it. I think he is resigned to the fact that he and I can never be the same again and he genuinely just wants me to be happy."