Identity of Repair Shop's Suzie Fletcher's 'abusive' husband is revealed after ... trends now

The Repair Shop star Suzie Fletcher's revelation about how she was abused by her late husband during their 15 year marriage has shocked his family. 

Relatives of Suzie's American husband James Allen Baker said they had no idea about the problems in the couple's marriage before she detailed them in her newly published book. 

Suzie, the popular leather working expert on the BBC show which restores family heirlooms recounted in her memoir how he choked her and threatened to kill her. 

She also recalled how he posted naked centerfolds in his man cave at their farmstead near Eaton, Colorado, and repeatedly left her feeling worthless, especially after drinking heavily. 

But the family of her husband who died aged 52 from pancreatic cancer in 2013 told MailOnline that they were stunned to hear her claims of his 'coercive' behaviour. 

Describing Suzie as 'a lot of fun', they said that they had never seen any abuse during the couple's marriage and believed they had been 'happy' together. 

Suzie did not use her husband's real name in her book The Sun Over The Mountains: A Story Of Hope, Healing And Restoration, instead referring to him as Rob. 

She described how his abusive behaviour emerged at the start of their marriage which followed a whirlwind romance soon after she arrived in America to work as a saddler. 

Her husband's sister Marci, 66, who works at Walmart and lives in Thornton, Colorado, admitted that she knew Suzie had once been concerned about his drinking. 

She said: 'I just know that he… There was a time that he was drinking a lot.. And my dad went out there [to the farmhouse] and spoke to him. 

'Suzie told him that she was going to leave if he didn't change. I didn't hear anything else after that. I just assumed that it was fine.' 

Marci who admitted her brother could be 'a wild child' as a kid, insisted that she would have intervened if Suzie had told her of any problems with her brother who was known as Jamie. 

She said: 'She never said anything to me but if she had told me that she was worried, I would have said, if he ever treats you badly, let me know. I will come and take care of him. 

'I mean she had that [sort of support] from my whole family. She never said anything and if, if it did happen, I truly don't know. She never said anything about it. 

'She never said that he had abused her or anything to me and if she had, I would have helped her.' 

Marci told how Suzie had devotedly nursed her husband as he battled the cancer which killed him. 

She said that both she and her sister Laura Grueber, 60, of Windsor, Colorado were also there regularly in Jamie's final year. 

Marci said she continued to be on good terms with her widowed sister-in-law after her brother's death and they spoke regularly. 

But Suzie then suddenly returned to England, cutting off all contact with her late husband's American family and taking his ashes with her. 

Marci said: 'I kept in touch with her. She was here, she didn't leave immediately after he died. It was like a year, a year and a half maybe, that she left. 

'I spoke to her all the time, like every week. I would keep in contact with her, I'd text her and see how she was doing or whatever. 

'Went out and saw her a couple times and she never said anything. I would have thought that she would, you know, say, "hey, you know, this is what happened, da da da da". 

'But she never, she never expressed any kind of fear of him. She never said anything was going on. She was very, very supportive of him while he was sick.' 

Marci added: 'When she told me she was leaving, I said, "I hate to see you go, but you know, keep in touch". 

'She gave me what I thought was her email address, but every time I tried to use it, I got no response. So, I just didn't know what happened to her. I just assumed she didn't want to have anything to do with any of us.' 

Jamie's aunt Juanita Vigil, 71, said: 'I knew him from a little boy, probably about seven, eight years old. He was always as friendly as ever. Every time I'd I see him on the street or wherever he was, he, he opened his arms and gave his auntie a big kiss and whatnot.' 

She added: 'He was just a beautiful man. Beautiful physically and personally - I never would've dreamt that anything bad was happening between him and Suzie.' 

Juanita went on: 'Like I said, I never would dream anything [bad] was going on. Every time I saw him and Suzie together, I thought they were happy. 

'I never saw that anything was wrong. The family never said that anything was going on between them either.' 

Suzie described in her book which was published three weeks ago how she met her husband by chance in the street in Boulder, Colorado, where she was working. 

She wrote: 'I was just three weeks into my new life in America when I first clapped eyes on Rob. He was well built and muscular, with long blonde hair and a moustache. 

'I can still picture him now as he walked with this swagger towards me along Boulder's main street, wearing shorts, a cut-off white T-shirt, white trainers and reflective sunglasses. 

'Blimey, he's nice, I thought as we walked past each other. A few paces later and I couldn't resist turning around to take another look. He had done the same. He smiled at me.'