Bigamist's web of deceit

DECEIVED wife Carolyn Whatmough today spoke of her anguish over the web of lies spun by her bigamist husband Michael.

The Kesgrave grandmother revealed she has suffered such torture in the four years since her marriage to the 56-year-old chef that she has vowed never to remarry.

As revealed in later editions of yesterday's Evening Star, Manchester-born Whatmough is awaiting sentencing after yesterday pleading guilty to a charge of bigamy at Ipswich Crown Court.

Mrs Whatmough said: "He fooled me and lied to me. He fooled not only me but my family also.

"He's not a man as far as I'm concerned, he's just a compulsive liar."

He had been charged after Mrs Whatmough contacted his second wife, Melanie, in Norfolk and they discovered he had been married to them both at the same time.

During previous hearings Whatmough had denied the charge.

Carolyn, who is his third wife, watched his admission from the public gallery.

She said: "I hope he goes to prison. After him I lost trust in men for a good while."

Mrs Whatmough met the father-of-seven met through a singles' ad in a newspaper and they married at the Felixstowe United Reformed Church, Tomline Road, on May 5, 2001.

A former psychiatric nurse who now lives in Trinity Close, Kesgrave, Mrs Whatmough said: "He told me that he'd been divorced for four years.

"He was a real gentleman when I met him.

"He told me he was an army chef and that he only left the army when he was 40. I've since found out he'd only been in the army for two years, so that was all lies."

The couple met in December, 2000, and after a month Whatmough moved from his home in Martham in Norfolk to Carolyn's Felixstowe home.

She thought about his proposal for three months before agreeing to marry him and she described their first months as husband and wife as very happy.

They appeared together in The Evening Star when the wedding bouquet left by the couple on the grave of Mrs Whatmough's brother, Nik , who was killed in the Soho nail bomb attack, was stolen.

She said: "We did get on really well in the beginning.

"The only thing that I noticed was that he didn't have any family at the wedding.

"He said his ex-wife wouldn't allow his children to the wedding. He was just covering up with excuses. (But) I accepted what he said."

The couple soon moved to Norwich where they took live-in jobs as steward and stewardess at a bowling club.

Mrs Whatmough, who has two daughters in their 20s, said they began to argue as Whatmough increased his drinking and then one morning he left without warning.

She said: "That day he got up at 7am and by 8am I couldn't find him.

"I think he was getting worried about them catching him out."

After initially carrying on at the bowling club Mrs Whatmough, who is now a support worker for people with learning disabilities, returned to Suffolk to restart her life.

She said: "I had to get on with my life.

"After about two-and-a-half years I sent a letter to Melanie. I needed to get divorce papers sorted.

"She rang me back and asked when we got married. When I told her she said 'oh dear, we were married at the same time'.

"I felt physically sick. I went straight to the police station."

Whatmough, who now lives in Llangyfelach Road, Treboeth, West Glamorgan, Wales, with a new partner, is due to be sentenced on May 13.

Whatmough's web of deceit:

On meeting third wife Carolyn, Michael Whatmough told her:

He had been DIVORCED from his second wife for four years when actually they were still married.

He had only TWO children when really he had three from his first marriage and four from his second.

His first marriage had been a "FIVE-MINUTE WONDER" when actually he had stayed around long enough to have three children.

He had been a chef in the ARMY until he was 40 when actually he spent only two years serving when he was much younger.

That his ex-wife, who was actually his current wife, would not allow his CHILDREN to their wedding when actually they knew nothing about his new life in Felixstowe.