DEVASTATED Ashleigh Mc-Alpine said a heartbreaking goodbye to her sweetheart yesterday as she prepared to bury him wearing the ring she had bought him as a Valentine gift.

Robert Rudham, 20, died suddenly a week ago after he developed blood poisoning from a burst appendix.

Ashleigh, 20, said: "Rob was my first real boyfriend. I loved him and he loved me. We planned to spend the rest of our lives together."

The couple met on August 14 last year at Robert's cousin's wedding reception.

She said: "I was sitting three tables away from him and I had my eyes on him all night. He asked me if I wanted a drink and he later asked to take me out.

"We went to Newcastle and it was perfect. It was the best night out I have ever had and we just knew we had something special.

"Since then, we have never been apart. We were with each other almost every night."

Robert had been to his doctor with stomach pains, but when they got worse a few days later, his father called an ambulance.

He was taken to Newcastle General Hospital and transferred to the city's Royal Victoria Infirmary, where surgeons found his appendix had burst.

Robert's parents, Robert, 47, and Joan, 49, of Denton Burn, Newcastle, said he was the perfect son. Robert also leaves a brother, Andrew, 19.