MAFS contestant dated Paul Lambert months before he attacked young doctor

WHEN Ashley heard the gruesome details of a man who stabbed his Tinder date, she was horrified. Then she saw his face.

EXCLUSIVE

WHEN flight attendant Ashley plonked her bags down in a hotel room and flipped on the TV, she didn’t expect to see the face of a man she had dated just months earlier.

It was Paul Lambert. And he had been shot dead by police after stabbing and pouring petrol over a young NSW doctor he had met on Tinder.

“Honestly I still remember it. I was on a Townsville overnight, I had just got in. I turned on the news [and] saw something about a Tinder date,” Ashley told news.com.au.

“And then his face popped up on the news. I was like, ‘No way’. And then they said it was Paul Lambert.”

Staring at the television, Ashley says she felt sick and her heart dropped as she heard the details of how Lambert broke into Angela Jay’s home, stabbed her 11 times and doused her with petrol after the young woman broke up with him.

Police said Lambert set the scene for a sick rape fantasy and believe he wanted to end it by murdering Jay and burning down the house.

As Ashley watched the report, she was getting ready to meet another unknown man whom she’d met on the dating app. After watching the news bulletin, she cancelled.

“It’s just the weirdest feeling. I was just like, ‘How do I know someone who’s now dead?’” she said. “And ... because I never saw that side ... you see the super keen, overly eager [side] but you don’t see a psycho murderer.”

Flight attendant Ashley went on several dates with Lambert months before he attacked Angela Jay.

‘I never saw that side’ ... Paul Lambert was shot by police after he stabbed Angela Jay and doused her in petrol after they meet on Tinder.

Just months before the horrific attack in November 2016, Ashley, 28, matched with Lambert on Tinder when he was living in Brisbane.

Echoing what Jay said in interviews after the attack, Ashley says the handsome 36-year-old salesman seemed normal and charming — but messaged obsessively.

“He’s the type of guy to send four messages to your one [message]. I’m not a good texter so he used to call quite a bit,” she said.

Ashley — who appears as a contestant on Married At First Sight tonight — distinctly remembers their first date.

They were going out for sushi and Lambert asked for her address so he could pick her up.

“He was working at a [car] dealership in Brisbane. He said he wanted to pick me up in the Merc [Mercedes] because his boss let him,” she said. “My mum was like, ‘Don’t you dare let him pick you up’. I was like, ‘Oh my God mum, don’t be so stupid’.”

One year after the horrific attack, Dr Angela Jay is an advocate for White Ribbon.

Today, she’s grateful she took her mother’s advice. Lambert tried to organise more dates with Ashley but she didn’t commit. Three weeks later, she gave in and attended a Broncos match with him. Again, she rejected his offers to be picked up.

“The scariest thing would be I never got any red flags,” she said. “None. I didn’t get any sick feeling in my stomach — he was a normal guy. And even a normal guy can lose it and do that. In dates, texts, phone calls, [he was] like every other guy.”

Lambert sent Ashley one final message 10 weeks before he attacked Jay in her Port Macquarie home.

In the message, he asked if he could meet the flight attendant on her next overnight trip.

Thirteen months on from the attack, Jay is an advocate for White Ribbon and has raised more than $80,000 for the charity and domestic violence awareness. She embarked on the charity’s Trek for Respect in the Northern Territory in September and will hike the Kokoda Track later this year.

Ashley has not been on a Tinder date since hearing the news of Lambert’s attack and is still in disbelief the charming man she so casually decided to meet was capable of such horror. She hopes to send a message to other women to be vigilant with dating apps.

“It’s so scary. I just could not feel worse for her [Angela],” she said.

“You barely know people online,” she added.

‘He seemed normal’ ... On the outside, Lambert was a charming man who raised money for charities.

Ashley is hoping to find love on the current series of Channel 9’s reality dating show Married At First Sight. Viewers will watch her walk down the aisle tonight and marry a man she hasn’t met before.

“I was sick of dating, I hate dating — all the games. I’m not a good dater,” she said, adding she had “full faith” in the psychologists who assess each contestant.

While she has no regrets about signing up for the show, Ashley did say the relationship had a tumultuous ending.

“It’s just all over the place. It’s a mess,” she said.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). In an emergency call triple-zero.

Married At First Sight airs tonight at 7.30pm on Nine.

Donate to White Ribbon’s 2018 Trek For Respect

Originally published as MAFS contestant dated Paul Lambert months before he attacked young doctor