After 12 months from hell things are finally looking up for Nick Burton and new wife Sue.

A year ago Sue was in a coma having fallen down the stairs of her home in Frindsbury Road, Strood.

The 62-year-old broke her neck and suffered severe head injuries after tripping on December 28, 2017.

Nick and Sue Burton on their year of hell

“I’ll always remember those three steps to the phone to dial 999 - it might as well have been three miles,” said 45-year-old Nick, who desperately tried to resuscitate Sue following the accident.

She spent 16 days in a coma, but the couple’s nightmare start to 2018 was far from over.

She was discharged from Medway Maritime Hospital but was sent straight to a neurological rehabilitation centre where she spent a further three months.

Nick says he was then told he was under investigation for trying to murder his partner of 12 years for the life insurance.

He said: “Apparently someone at the hospital had heard Sue say something.

“I was in total shock - to be accused of doing something like that to someone I loved was devastating.

“I spent days inside with the curtains closed. I wouldn’t answer the door to anyone.

“I was treated like an outcast and never kept informed.”

He says he was stopped from seeing his partner twice and was threatened with court if he tried to marry Sue.

After three months Sue, who still has double vision and is unsteady on her feet, was back home.

Nick says he was then contacted by phone and told no further action would be taken.

The police were called about the incident but decided not to investigate as Sue's fall was not deemed suspicious.

The couple are now just happy to be back together.

They finally married at Medway Register Office in Rochester last month.

Recalling their first meeting, former gardener Nick said: “She chatted me up with a line about selling me a wheelbarrow.”

Sue said: “After that I didn’t see him for two weeks, he’d fallen out of a tree which I thought was a pathetic excuse!”

Almost a year to the day since Sue’s fall they got married at Medway Register Office, in Northgate, Rochester.

Because of Sue’s health they have been unable to go on honeymoon yet.

They are now looking to move closer to Maidstone to be near Nick’s mother, who he cares for full time.

Sue has a six-month memory blank, from Nick’s dad’s funeral two months before the accident to waking up in the rehab unit,

She says getting away from the house would make her very happy.

She said: “I really don’t like being here, not that I can remember the fall. As soon as Nick’s mum is settled we’ll be moving.

“I’m just so glad to be with Nick every day. Getting married has made me feel complete. Things can only go up.”