She had met Mohamed for the first time after five months chatting online at a time when she had been divorced for more than 40 years. Her 35-year dry spell melted away in the desert heat. Mohamed, then just 34, had been in an arranged marriage for 10 years when they first spoke on Facebook. Within a month he had proposed to Iris – and on her first trip to see him the love-struck mum had secretly planned to accept.