If any bigamists out there wanted a salutary lesson on the consequences of their illegal act, it was given in our local Crown Court this month. A former soldier who married for a second time without divorcing his first wife was given a 9 month suspended prison sentence and a 3 month curfew between 9pm and 5am.
He had split from his wife of three years in 2001 and then gone through a second marriage ceremony with another woman at an army base in Germany in late 2006, declaring himself to be a bachelor. It was reported that the offence came to light when, in an argument with wife number 2, he shouted “I wish I had stayed with my first wife.” Something of a giveaway you might say.
The Judge took the view that as offences of bigamy go, it fell into the less serious category, the second marriage having been conducted for neither gain nor reward and with no obvious motivation.
I can only assume that the curfew is designed to permit time for a divorce whilst reducing the opportunity to meet anyone else and marry for a third time in the interim.
