Sarah Lissimore was 25 and estranged from her husband (though they were still living together) when she met 41 year old Kenneth "KK" Downing in a pub one night (in Autumn 1993) whilst she was out with a friend on one of those "We hate men" evenings that we all do... some of us more than others... She thought he was a farmer when she first started seeing him. Good for him.
They hit it off and she quickly moved into his house, Astbury Hall, a property Downing had bought in 1985, followed by surrounding farmland in 1991 with the intention of turning it into a golf course. She did not tell her parents for three months... Good start to the relationship there! She said she intended to buy a flat with her divorce settlement but he didn't like the area because it was rough and he didn't want his brand new Range Rover vandalised. Fair enough. Downing told Lissimore from the start that it would not be a conventional relationship; after-all, she was still legally married, though her divorce would be final in July 1994. While Judas Priest was basically on hiatus after Rob's departure, he must have known he would return to being a touring musician at some point and he confirmed that theirs would be an open relationship.
KK had also had a series of relationships that did not end well - he lived with Carole until 1985 (she had supported him in the early days and when they broke up, he paid off their mortgage and gave her the house), then Kyme who worked as a jeweller to support herself and lived with him in Spain... she returned to the US to be an actress in the 1980s after having an affair with another musician and was killed in a car accident in the early 1990s, and finally Julie who worked as a flight attendant; their relationship ended after she said she wanted to get married and KK said he would like to wear the wedding dress...
There's a pattern emerging... These women in KK's life all worked and did not demand much of him (aside from the odd marriage proposal). In return, they got his attention and support when the relationships ended (he partially financed Kyme's return to California, buying her an apartment).