THEY were the most unlikely pair, he a convicted murderer and she a married mum-of-two.

But as Toby Dorr, then 48, smuggled her lover through the prison gates in 2006, she knew there was no turning back.

Just two years before Toby was the world’s least likely lawbreaker.

“In 2004, my life was so dull,” the now 64-year-old from Washington DC remembers. 

“I’d been married for 26 years, and we’d outgrown each other. With our two sons, then 20 and 24, moved out, we just didn’t have anything in common.”

A shock diagnosis of thyroid cancer was a wake-up call for Toby to break away from her old life.

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“I wanted to pursue my passion. I’d always loved animals so decided to start a dog rescue group, training abandoned pups and finding them new homes,” she says.

That’s when the prison, who wanted to start their own dog programme, came knocking.

The idea was for inmates to volunteer as dog handlers, then Toby could find them forever homes.

Which is how she found herself driving into Lansing Correctional Facility, Kansas, for the very first time.

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Toby says: “I’d never been in a prison before, but I was more curious than scared.

“Knowing some men had committed murder and rape didn’t bother me. I focused on how they treated the dogs, not on their pasts.”

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Seven weeks later an inmate approached Toby. The man who’d change her life.

“John was tall with red hair, but what really struck me was his confidence,” she recalls.

“He told me I needed him to be my next dog handler. The bold way he spoke really stood out to me. I was intrigued.”

John was 27, serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and possession of firearms.

“He seemed different to the other inmates and there was a connection from the start,” she says.

It was like an electric shock. The attraction I felt was almost overwhelming.''

Then, a year later, Toby faced more heartache when she discovered her beloved dad was dying from cancer.

She says: “I’d been up all night at the hospital and John noticed something was different. He said, ‘Are you okay?’

“Nobody, not even my husband, asked how I was coping. It felt so refreshing to have someone notice I was struggling.”

Then, a few weeks later, John stepped up once again when an inmate turned nasty during one of Toby’s visits.

“He flew into a rage, fists raised and screaming. Suddenly John was there. I felt like he’d saved my life,” she says.

John became her escort. They were soon spending six hours each day together.

She continues: “Two months later we both went to stroke a dog and our fingers touched. 

“It was like an electric shock. The attraction I felt was almost overwhelming.

“That night I couldn’t get John off my mind. I had butterflies and felt giddy. It was like being a teenager again.

“Then the next day, walking together in the yard, he said ‘I think I’ve fallen in love with you.’

“Despite being in a prison filled with inmates it felt like we were the only two people in the world.

“Yes, I was married. But that love had long gone. 

“It wasn’t just the physical attraction to John, it was our conversations. I felt like a dying plant being given water.

“The fact our love was forbidden made it even more intoxicating. When we finally had our first snatched kiss two months later in the music room, it was incredible.”

When John first suggested escaping so they could be together, she said he was crazy.

“But as our relationship grew deeper, I thought, ‘I have to be with him.’ How can I say no?” Toby says.

“When John said I could smuggle him out in the dog van I thought ‘My god, this could work!’ I was so drunk with love, I’d have done anything. Logic flew out of the window.”

As she cashed in her pension, hired a van under a fake name and booked a romantic cabin in the Tennessee mountains for them to hide in, Toby felt like she was in a movie.

She says: “Many women have mad fantasies. This was mine and I was actually doing it. It was so intoxicating I didn’t think about my husband or sons.

“I wasn’t even worried about getting caught. John told me no one would send me to jail. 

“Deep down I knew that was ridiculous, but I wanted to be with him so much I let myself believe it.”

On February 12th 2006, John hid inside a dog carrier in Toby’s van. Driving across the prison, waiting to hear the whistle that signals an escape, Toby was terrified.

She says: “As I left the jail behind, I heard a laugh and John bust out of the box. I was both excited and scared, knowing my life had changed forever.”

Just 24 hours later the couple arrived at a cabin and fell into each other’s arms.

“It was every bit as wonderful as I’d imagined. The sex was so passionate, we couldn’t get enough of each other,” Toby recalls.

“But the pressure of being on the run made us both tense. We put on wigs to go to the cinema and dinner but couldn’t relax.”

Twelve days after their escape they saw the motorway swarming with police.

Toby says: “Suddenly we were in a terrifying car chase. John lost control and as we headed for a tree at 100mph, I prayed to die. 

“Instead, I was pulled out by the police, somehow unhurt, and saw John being taken in the opposite direction.”

As a result of the escape John had another ten years added to his life sentence.

Now I don’t recognise the sad, unhappy woman who helped John escape from prison.''

Toby pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting an aggravated jailbreak and introducing contraband – a mobile phone – into the prison. She was sentenced to 27 months in jail.

“The life I’d had before was over,” she says.

“My sons and husband wouldn’t talk to me – my divorce came through the day before my sentence began.

“But my amazing parents gave me their full support. The first time I saw them I sobbed so hard I couldn’t speak. I was so ashamed.”

Prison gave Toby the chance to reassess her life. 

While she still cared about John when he broke the rules to send her love letters she didn’t reply.

Released in May 2008 Toby took a web design job, where she met her now-husband Chris. 

He was the one who encouraged her to visit John in jail in 2016.

“Giving John a hug that day was so healing. I still cared about him and wanted to know he was okay. I left so much lighter. Now we email as friends,” Toby says.

Writing her new memoir Living With Conviction helped Toby process her crazy journey.

“Now I don’t recognise the sad, unhappy woman who helped John escape from prison. But I refuse to be ashamed,” she says.

“Because everything I’ve done, the good and the bad, has made me the woman I am today. 

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Living With Conviction by Toby Dorr is available on Amazon. Visit TobyDorr.com

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