Ukrainian refugee whose partner left wife for her says ‘I didn’t steal anyone’

A Ukrainian refugee who made international headlines when she ran off with her married UK sponsor has insisted she ‘didn’t steal anyone’.

Sofiia Karkadym, 22, moved in with Tony Garnett, 29, his wife Lorna and their two children in Bradford at the start of May after fleeing war-torn Lviv.

Tony quickly fell for the new guest and decided to ditch his long-term partner for her after just 10 days.

Tony said he had fallen in love with Sofiia and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

His heartbroken ex claimed Sofiia only ever had sights for her man and seduced him with ‘low cut tops and lipstick’.

However, Sofiia says she had no intention of trying to steal anyone and claimed Lorna instead drove the two together through her constant suspicions.

She said she has broken down in tears over the scandal and that her parents are ashamed of her.

In a new Instagram post addressing the affair, Sofiia said: ‘Finally, I decided to write a post about the world famous recent events,’ she said in an Instagram post.

‘The first thing I want to say is I didn’t steal anyone from the family. It was his conscious and informed decision, the decision of a 29-year-old man who has the right to love, has the right to be happy and has the right to choose who to be with.’

She also hit out at the press saying the coverage of what happened was ‘clearly exaggerated and written in such a way as to be as dramatic as possible’.

She provided an update about how her relationship with Tony is going, saying their love is ‘real and wonderful’.

She said: ‘The second thing I want to highlight is the concept of the “yellow press”. Do you really think someone can be kidnapped from a happy family in 10 days?

‘Anthony and I are doing great. So those who from the very beginning supported me and knew that behind any of my acts is something real and wonderful, thank you. The rest, you will be disappointed with your judgements.’

Sofiia teased that the ‘truth will come out’ in her next social media post.

Her story was first reported back in May, when she described how much the war in Ukraine changed her life.

Forced to leave behind her job, routine and friends, Sofiia decided her safest option was to seek refuge in the UK and posted her application for a sponsor on the Opora Homes for Ukraine site in April.

Tony logged on to the site and came across Sofiia’s details but noted how slow the process was.

Sofiia travelled from Germany to Manchester and arrived in the UK on May 4 where she was picked up by Tony at Manchester Airport.

Soon, Tony and Sofiia started watching TV with each other most nights and Lorna became suspicious of the two.

But Sofiia said she just needed someone to open up to after fleeing her war-torn country.

She previously insisted she was not to blame for the marriage breakdown, telling The Sun: ‘ That never crossed my mind. I liked the family. I spent a lot of time with Lorna and I tried to help her. But she was two-faced.

‘Her constant suspicions, the tension, it just pushed me and Tony closer together.

‘She created this situation by constantly suggesting something was going on when it wasn’t. So this is her fault.’

Lorna says she snapped and kicked Sofiia out after a neighbour saw them talking intimately together.

But Tony told her: ‘If she’s going, I’m going.’

Tony later claimed when he first set eyes on Sofiia it was ‘love at first sight’ and claimed ‘it was a no brainer’ to leave Lorna, his partner of eight years.

He said he would ‘rather be on his arse and happy’.

Speaking to the Sun on Sunday to give her side of the story, Lorna said she believes Sofiia ‘set her sights on Anthony from the start, decided she wanted him and she took him’.

She added: ‘She didn’t care about the devastation that was left behind. Everything I knew has been turned on its head in the space of two weeks.’