When Chantelle Price kissed her new man for the first time on Facebook Live she had no idea her jealous ex was watching them online in a murderous rage.
As restaurant worker Ashley Luff looked on in fury, the seed of a plot to kill Nathan Birch was sown.
And two weeks later he ambushed him and stabbed him 17 times in a frenzied attack.
Horrified Chantelle, 24, witnessed the whole terrifying assault last August because she was on the phone to Nathan at the time.
“I heard it all – Ashley’s voice and then a thud as Nathan hit the floor,” said Chantelle, speaking as Luff, 32, began a 16-year sentence on Friday for attempted murder.
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“I didn’t know if he was dead or alive.”
Nathan, 24, miraculously survived and now he and Chantelle are bravely putting the nightmare behind them – and planning their wedding.
“I was scared Nathan wouldn’t want anything to do with me after the attack. He could have died,” said Chantelle.
“But the reality is it brought us even closer. When he proposed on New Year’s Eve, I was the happiest woman alive.”
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Nathan added: “The attack didn’t change the way I felt about Chantelle. It isn’t her fault that her ex is a maniac.”
The two got together last summer as Chantelle’s five-year relationship with Luff was coming to an end.
Chantelle, who has a five-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, said: “She was just a baby when I met Ashley and he was like a dad to her. But over the years we grew apart.
“Our relationship was dead in the water when I met Nathan at a family BBQ.
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“Unlike Ashley, he was super chilled. I just felt so relaxed with him.”
But instead of cheating on Luff, Chantelle did the honourable thing and went for a clean break.
“It was the right thing to do,’ she said. “I ended it with Ashley before anything happened with Nathan.
“He was heartbroken and begged me to take him back, but I felt free for the first time in years.
“I didn’t want to rush into anything with Nathan, so we met a few times, taking Nevaeh to the park and then another BBQ.”
But on a night out at the local with Chantelle’s family on August 4, the pair gave in to their feelings for each other.
Chantelle said: “My stomach did a somersault as we shared our first kiss. It was special.
“We had waited a long time to snog so there was a lot of anticipation – and it was amazing. My family liked Nathan, and they were as excited as we were.
“But I had no idea my brother Hayden was streaming it live to his Facebook friends – all 895 of them.
“I didn’t care. I really liked Nathan and I didn’t have anything to hide.
“We were both free and single and weren’t doing anything wrong”
But twisted Luff thought differently after watching the clip at home.
And he stormed round to the pub.
Chantelle said: “I tried to hide behind the fruit machine. Ashley demanded to know what I was playing at, but I told him it wasn’t any of his business.
“He refused to leave until I went outside and talked to him.”
Luff then began bombarding full-time mum Chantelle and her family with messages.
“He drove us all mad wanting to know where I was every second of the day,’ she recalled.
“I thought he’d get bored eventually.”
Instead, on August 19, Luff lay in wait for Nathan while he was on the phone to Chantelle as he left his job as a chef at TGI Friday in Fareham, Hampshire.
Nathan – who suffered life-threatening injuries including a collapsed lung and damaged spleen – only escaped back to the restaurant when Luff tumbled into a ditch.
Luff was found guilty of attempted murder last month at Portsmouth Crown Court.
“We had no idea our innocent kiss would provoke him to be so violent,” said Chantelle.
“But if he wanted to drive us apart, he failed. I’ve never been happier.”
