'They say love is blind': Star shocks fans by announcing new relationship with ex-police officer convicted of rape

Sera Cruickshank, who is a diamond store owner and jewellery designer, revealed she has a new boyfriend in a video shared with her 25,000 followers on Wednesday January 1, to start the new year,

In the caption, she didn’t name her new beau, but she wrote: “The contrast that was 2024. Simply the worst and best times of my life.Good morning 2025.” The video included clips of her kissing her new man, holding his hand in the car and walking hand-in-hand on the beach. Eagle-eyed viewers spotted that he was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle in the beach shots.

Her boyfriend was tagged in the video, however, and his name was revealed to be called Jamie Foster. His Instagram page is private. MailOnline reported that he is a former police officer, who was convicted in March 2020 of raping a colleague as she slept at a motel in 2019 while they were away on a job. He was sentenced to six years in prison, but released on parole in April 2022. He wear the ankle bracelet, however, which was visible in the video footage that Cruickshank shared.

The video, which was set to the sound of Lewis Capaldi's track 'Love The Hell Out Of You', showed the couple enjoying road trips, and lunch dates and also beach trips with her young son and daughter.

Cruickshank's new relationship comes after she quietly separated from her husband Dan Cruickshank recently. The pair married in 2017 and share the two children.

Fans were shocked by the development. One questioned: “How did you explain the ankle bracelet to your kids?” Another person said: “As a mother to a little girl and a victim , I could never have it in me to even think of dating a felon. They say love is blind and I have a lot of respect for Sera but don't know how she can look past this.”

Some people, however, were supportive. One fan said: “Happy new year beautiful girl! Thankful for you, proud of you AND everything you’ve done including this reel - Happily ever after darling.” Another said: “ Love it!!!! Absolute boss babe!!!”

Cruickshank responded to the positive comments to give her thanks, but she did not reply to any of the negative comments.

Foster and his victim had been staying at a Kerikeri motel in New Zealand's Northland with a group of officers who had all been assigned to help police the 2019 Waitangi Day events at the Treaty Grounds at the time of the rape, according to the MailOnline.

The group were partying and drinking alcohol which was being stored in the room Foster was staying in with a male colleague. As the woman went to the room to get a drink, Foster groped her and she told him to stop.

She later returned to her room at the end of the night and woke about 2.30am to find Foster raping her. At his rape trial, Foster claimed the sex was consensual and that he believed the woman's reaction to the groping incident meant “not yet”. He said he also believed the woman had invited him to go to her room later.

The jury found Foster guilty, however, and repeated efforts by Foster to appeal against his convictions were rejected. At the time of his release, the New Zealand Parole Board noted that Foster's risk to the community was “low” and he poses a “below average” risk of sexual re-offending.