[Kerry]

Karen Barber's husband has spoken of his heartache after she left him for her Dancing On Ice colleague Christopher Dean.

Stephen Pickavance, who helps coach the show's Northern-based celebrities, revealed that their marital problems started when Barber joined the show in 2006, and that he eventually confronted Dean over his suspicions of an affair.

"I managed to pluck up the courage to speak to Chris, to talk man to man. I said to him, 'Chris, I have to ask you, are you seeing my wife?'" he told the News of the World. "He looked at me and he said, 'No Stephen, not at all. Karen and I are just good friends'.

"He said he was sorry to hear that talk of him and my wife had made me ill. I told him I'd needed my wife during my bad times but she'd not been there for me - she'd been with him. He was very genuine and I believed him. I said, 'Chris, I'm really sorry to think this'."

Speaking of the moment he found out about their relationship, he added: "A colleague came in and said they were very sorry to read about Karen and Chris in the papers. I didn't know that Karen had released a statement confirming the relationship the night before, as they'd been caught kissing. I was choked.

"I've been through hell. I'm in pieces and I don't know how I've coped. My life has no future."

Pickavance confessed that he now changes the channel whenever he sees Dean on screen.