Sam Janus accused of marriage-wrecking

Samantha Janus is at the centre of allegations that she wrecked a friend's marriage over nine years ago.

Therese Womack says that Janus slept with her husband Mark, who the actress met on the set of cop show Liverpool One, and who she is still with. Janus had become a family friend and it had taken a while for Womack to become suspicious of her intentions, only cottoning on to the relationship when she read about it in the papers.

"It was devastating for me and my son Michael, who was only four," Womack told the Sunday Mirror. "I don't think I've ever got over the scene of Michael screaming, shouting and kicking at the door calling for his daddy.

"I can never forgive her for what she did because of the hurt she caused to our son. I'm just not that forgiving. But I have learned to live with it. I sometimes wonder how Sam would feel in my place if it was one of her children who was left hurt and crying."

However, Womack says she is now back on good terms with Janus, who works close to Womack's home and even sent the couple baby clothes on the birth of their second child.

"A lot of people said, 'Are you mad?'," noted Womack, "but it was time to move on. We'll never be friends again, but she's my son's stepmum [and] as a result of what happened I not only have another son Oliver but a three-year-old girl Madeline. I can't feel bad about what happened now. Too many good things have come from it in a way."

The 34-year-old actress makes her first appearance as Ronnie Mitchell in Tuesday's EastEnders at 7.30pm on BBC One.