Jack Tweed vowed Jade Goody's death would make him 'grow up'

Jack Tweed with his late wife Jade Goody (Getty)

Jack Tweed vowed the death of his wife Jade Goody made him want to grow up, stay out of trouble and "be the man that Jade wanted me to be".

He said getting "stupidly drunk" and doing "stupid things" was in his past, and his wife's death changed his priorities.

Today's acquittal of the 22-year-old widower over rape charges is the latest episode in his troubled life in the public eye.

Just days after Big Brother star Goody's death from cervical cancer in March last year, Tweed told OK! magazine: "I don't want to go out and get stupidly drunk and do stupid things.

"This has made me realise what's important - it's not important to do all the things I was doing before."

But within weeks tales of drunken nights with a series of young women emerged in the national press.

Glamour model Lisa O'Connor kissed and told after a drunken one-night stand, and the three members of all-girl band Dice described attending a "disgusting, disrespectful and degrading" eight-hour sex free-for-all at Tweed's home in Woodford Green.

The jury was not told of his previous convictions, but Tweed's drunken behaviour has landed him in trouble before.

He was sent to prison just last year for drunkenly attacking taxi driver Stephen Wilkins following a night out in Epping, Essex, in May 2008.

Tweed said he had no memory of the taxi journey after a day and night of heavy drinking.

And in September 2008, Tweed was jailed for 18 months for an attack on a 16-year-old boy.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard he hit the teenager with a golf club in Ongar, Essex, in December 2006.

The attack on the taxi driver, in which Tweed grabbed Mr Wilkins in a headlock and threatened to stab him after being asked to pay the fare in advance, happened in the early hours of May 5, 2008 while he was on bail for attacking the teenage boy.

Magistrates in Harlow, Essex, jailed Tweed for 12 weeks in April last year, telling him it would have been a longer sentence had it not been for his "change in personal circumstances".

His lawyer, Tania Panagiotopoulou, told the court the club promoter, who was ordered to wear an electronic tag following his release from prison in January, was a "changed man".

She said he had been forced to "mature very quickly", coping with the illness and subsequent death of Goody.

"He has endured, with dignity and maturity, very difficult personal circumstances that have been well-documented," she said.

Tweed's relationship with Goody was sometimes turbulent, but on learning the devastating news about her cancer, he proposed at her hospital bedside.

While most young newlyweds could expect to have the rest of their lives to look forward to, the fact that Goody was given only months to live meant there were tears of joy and sadness on the big day.

Tweed popped the question to Goody on the eve of Valentine's Day and the couple had to hastily begin making plans for a big white wedding.

They later exchanged engagement rings by the riverside as Tweed pushed Goody, 27, in a wheelchair, wrapped in a warm coat and woolly hat to protect her frail frame against the cold.

At the time, Tweed vowed that Goody, who had two young sons by TV presenter Jeff Brazier, would go down the aisle even if he had to drag her in her hospital bed.

Their "dream day" took place on February 22 last year at the Down Hall Country Hotel near Hatfield Heath, Hertfordshire, with Goody enjoying a day of "laughter and tears", her publicist Max Clifford said.

The pair, whose relationship had on occasion seemed more off than on, supported each other in the best and worst of times.

Tweed came through for Goody as a strong emotional support as she came to terms with her heartbreaking situation.

He told OK! magazine he would "rather do life in prison" than live without her.

Jack Andrew Tweed, who was born on June 9, 1987 in Waltham Forest, first came to national public attention when the couple appeared on 2007's Celebrity Big Brother, while Goody was already a household name.

The move turned out to be a massive PR disaster for Goody, whose blossoming career was sent into meltdown.

The race row over the treatment by Goody and others of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty attracted the most complaints in regulator Ofcom's history.

Tweed did not fare well either, appearing monosyllabic in the house.

In the run-up to the couple's wedding, the Ministry of Justice said the terms of Tweed's curfew, imposed following his release from prison for assaulting the teenager, would be changed to reflect the "exceptional" circumstances.

The last-minute intervention meant the couple were at least able to spend their wedding night together.