Jailed ex-footy WAG Arabella Del Busso has a new boyfriend patiently waiting for her release from prison – and he has vowed to love and protect her when she walks free.
The disgraced former reality TV star is in love with heavily tattooed Melbourne builder James Warwick who the convicted thief says is ‘kind, supportive, loving’.
Del Busso, 34, began dating Warwick when she was already facing charges for stealing $52,350 from the small Sydney medical practice where she worked as a receptionist until she was sacked.
Del Busso was already notorious for faking pregnancies with former NRL star Josh Reynolds, going on 60 Minutes and as a one-time SAS Australia contestant who famously fled the TV show in tears.
Since she was jailed in February, Warwick – nickname ‘Wazza’ – has been flying interstate to visit Del Busso every fortnight and spending $220 on Uber rides to her jail, the vast Dillwynia women’s prison 55km northwest of Sydney.
The builder, in his mid-30s and running his own construction company in northeastern Melbourne, said in court affidavit: ‘I feel people don’t know the real Arabella Del Busso’.
‘The Bella that I have grown to love is the most caring, genuine, down to earth, selfless person I have met from a relationship perspective.
Jailed ex-footy WAG Arabello Del Busso has a new boyfriend who is waiting for her as she serves her prison sentence and has vowed to love and protect her on release
Melbourne builder James Warwick, who like Del Busso is heavily tattooed, is planning a new life with the ex-lingerie model once she does her time and walks from her western Sydney prison
‘Bella loves the home we have created back in Melbourne. She is is a safe place where she can be herself and focus on … enjoying the great things life has to offer with our family and our dogs.’
The former Aussie Rules player said Del Busso had been ‘impacted mentally’ by her relationship with Josh Reynolds – with whom she said she had two miscarriages, one of a child and then another with twins.
‘She has spoken with me about how hard that time in her life was … with who she was as a person being openly pulled apart,’ Warwick added.
‘I know by the conversations we share about her traumatic experiences inside, she is suffering.’
Warwick, a former amateur footy player in the 2014 premiership-winning side the Northern Blues, known as the ‘Bullants’, has been dating the ex-lingerie model for 17 months.
Since she was taken into custody in February, he said ‘I worry every day about her being in jail.
‘Her experiences inside jail may have taken a real toll on her that she will need time and help to overcome.
‘I will be doing everything I can to make sure she is safe and protected when she is out and eventually returns home tome in Melbourne.’
Warwick wiped away tears as he sat in the back of the Downing Centre District Court earlier this month and watched Del Busso onscreen from the AVL booth at Dillwynia, where she claimed to have been threatened and humiliated.
Del Busso was appealing against the severity of her 20 month prison sentence, begging for a community order which would allow her to walk free from behind bars.
James Warwick (above) runs his own building company in northeastern Melbourne where he and Del Busso plan to live with their two dogs after her release in July from jail
James Warwick described the convicted thief (above) as caring, genuine, down to earth, selfless and said jail was taking a toll on her wellbeing
Del Busso said she was threatened with a shiv (prison blade) in jail and subjected to ‘invasive’ strip searches, but prison authorities (above, Silver Womens’ prison) issued a statement refuting her claims
But NSW District Court Judge John Pickering unleashed on Del Busso’s barrister Jehane Ghabrial when she tried to claim ‘extracurial punishment’ or trial by media as a mitigating factor.
‘Being real about it, she’s pursued it. She put herself on a reality program. She put herself on national television,’ he said.
‘No-one forced her to go on SAS.’
In a lively exchange, during which Del Busso blinked as she listened and Warwick intently watched his girlfriend, Ms Ghabrial replied: ‘Just because somebody goes on national television doesn’t mean they are inviting [people] to tear their life apart … it’s like having a wound continually open.’
Judge Pickering disagreed. ‘That’s debatable,’ he said. ‘Isn’t that exactly what you you seek?
‘In a case that’s dominating the media at the moment, in the case of Mr [Bruce] Lehrmann, that’s exactly what you get.
‘SAS… It’s the kind of show which people to seek to increase their profile. She has also sought to exploit it for her own profile.’
Ms Ghabrial said: ‘It’s a matter that had nothing to do with Josh Reynolds. The media… keep dredging that up… the reporting is excessive about that.’
Again, Judge Pickering disagreed: ‘The reality is these are dishonesty offences and there are aspects of that history which are dishonest.
James Warwick has vowed to love and protect Del Busso when she is released from a NSW prison in July, saying that he had ‘grown to love’ her and ‘people don’t know the real Arabella’
Del Busso’s new Melbourne builder lover said the convicted thief was a kind and selfless person who had suffered trauma but hoped to build a positive future with him
‘We live in an Instagram, Twitter, TikTok world. Some people are private, some are public, some seek to continue… to [work on] their profile.’
When she did appear on SAS in 2020 Del Busso – who had 11 known aliases including Bella Donna Di Donato and her real name, Donna Preusker – sensationally quit when asked about her lying.
Under interrogation by ex-SAS solider Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham, Del Busso gobsmacked viewers by saying, ‘I’m honestly not the only person in the whole of Australia that has told a little white lie here or there’.
Billingham countered with: ‘I can see deep f***ing issues in your face right now, once you knock down all that crap and you’re true to yourself then you can rebuild.’
As Del Busso stood up to walk out on the show, fellow contestant Candice Warner told her: ‘I don’t trust someone with six names, I’m sorry’.
In his court affidavit, James Warwick said Del Busso ‘hopes moving forward she can be considered one who has made a terrible mistake in the past , yet isn’t defined by this.’
James Warwick said in a court affidavit that Del Busso, who once had 10 aliases, has learnt her lesson and ‘is determined to move forward in a positive way’ once she gets out of jail
Former Northern Blues ‘Bullants’ player James Warwick holding his team’s winning premiership cup in 2014 and Del Busso (right) with her then partner and NRL star Josh Reynolds before the relationship foundered over her lying
He said Del Busso had vowed to keep their relationship off social media, and their pages don’t have any couple photos, just an image of her looking remarkable modest on his Facebook page, in her DB insignia boxing tracksuit.
The court heard in an affidavit fropm forebsic psychiatrist Tim Watson-Munro, that ‘Mr Warwick confirmed his ongoing love, support and commitment to Ms Del Busso.
‘They have daily contact for ten minutes and he has visited her on several occasions although the cost is prohibitive.
‘About remorse … (Warwick says) “she has learnt her lesson”.’
In his affidavit Warwick said, ‘I am aware that Bella had committed a crime of stealing from her ex-employer and that she needs to be punished for this crime.
‘But I also believe that Bella made a terrible mistake that will never be repeated.’
He said his girlfriend had endured hardships such as a negative relationship with her mother, Isobel Preusker, who went on television to publicly criticise her daughter.
She had also lost her father at a young age.
‘I am a big support network in Bella’s life and I am here to stay long term.’
During her ‘severity appeal’, Del Busso complained in a court affidavit and in a handwritten letter from jail about oppressive conditions in jail, Corrective Services NSW issued a denial.
Del Busso said she felt the strip searches in jail were ‘invasive’ and prison guards violated her by masking her ‘spread your bum cheeks’ but jail authorities have rejected her claims in a statement
The former reality TV star claimed in court documents that she was threatened with a knife by another female prisoner, is regularly robbed by inmates and has endured multiple invasive strip searches by prison guards.
She also detailed various humiliations she had been subjected to behind bars including showering, getting dressed, and going to the toilet in front of other female prisoners.
CSNSW’s sternly worded statement said the claims, including Del Busso’s graphic description of having ‘to spread your bum cheeks’ during a strip search, were not true.
‘The inmate’s claims of showering in front of inmates are not factual. Dillwynia Correctional Centre has individual cubicles for inmate’s showering,’ the statement said.
‘Inmates do not use the toilet in the presence of anyone else, except during urine analysis.’
Judge Pickering reduced Arabella Del Busso’s sentenced to five months with no parole, meaning that she will be released in July and can leave NSW for Victoria with no restrictions.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk