Pennie Davis's husband Pete pays emotional tribute to his wife found dead of stab wounds in a paddock in Beaulieu

Those are the words of Pennie’s Davis’s distraught husband Pete, who never imagined that just four short months after spending the best day of their lives together, he would be burying the love of his life.

Pennie’s funeral will take place this Friday at Southampton Crematorium.

Pete remembers their wedding in May as “the best day of my life” and the family cherish the photographs from the day, which shows them all smiling and laughing together, not knowing what tragedy was just around the corner.

It was Pete who made the horrifying discovery of Pennie’s body six weeks ago.

She was found lying in the paddocks where they kept their four horses in Beaulieu at the end of August – something he will never be able to forget.

The 47-year-old had died of stab wounds.

Pete explains that it was fate that brought the two of them together two years ago – when he just happened to walk into the Gamekeeper pub in Ashurst, where she was working.

A year later Pete proposed, while the couple were away on a trip to Ashdown Forest – the woods that inspired the tales of Winnie the Pooh, which Pennie loved.

Knowing how much she loved the character, Pete knew it was the perfect moment to propose and presented her with a Poohshaped box, with an engagement ring inside.

Pete said: “From the day I moved in we spent every day together.

“We just liked the same things and it was just fate that we met. I could have gone into any other pub that day, but I went into the one where she was.

“She always used to make sure that I was neat and tidy when I went out. She could go and throw anything on and she would look perfect to me.

Whenever we would go out she would always look stunning.”

He added: “She was always on the go and her love for horses was so infectious that we ended up buying two foals and they became our babies.

“I still think now that she will walk through the door at any moment. I’m li ving a nightmare.”

Pennie’s funeral will be held at Southampton Crematorium, East Chapel, in Bassett Green Road, at 1.15pm.

Mourners are invited to wear bright colours if they wish.

The family has asked that mourners provide donations in lieu of flowers to Honeypot children’s charity or to the Pennie Davis Appeal Fund, to educate and support her two youngest children.

Donations can be sent via the funeral director, Jonathan Terry, 101 Peartree Avenue, Bitterne, Southampton, SO19 7JJ.

• Meanwhile Justin Robertson, 36, of no fixed abode, has been charged with murder and is remanded in custody.

Leanne Doyle, 24, of Beech Crescent, Hythe, was charged with assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice.

The pair are due to appear at Winchester Crown Court on December 18.

A 28-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder has been bailed until November, while a 22-yearold man previously arrested on suspicion of murder has been released on bail.

A 37-year-old man held on suspicion of assisting an offender has also been bailed, as has a 46-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.