A BIGAMIST from Felixstowe was today spared prison at a hearing at Ipswich Crown Court.Instead he will serve 180 hours of unpaid work in the sentencing which was brandished "absolutely shocking" by his third wife.

A BIGAMIST from Felixstowe was today spared prison at a hearing at Ipswich Crown Court.

Instead he will serve 180 hours of unpaid work in the sentencing which was brandished "absolutely shocking" by his third wife.

Michael Whatmough admitted to the court a case of committing bigamy on May 5, 2001 when he married his third wife.

The 56-year-old, who has seven children, married Carolyn Whatmough at the Felixstowe United Reformed Church, Tomline Road, Felixstowe, while he was still married to his second wife.

The Kesgrave grandmother met Whatmough through a singles add in a newspaper. Speaking on the sentencing today, she said: "I am fuming. I wanted him to get a prison sentence.

"I think he has been let off too easily and I think everybody else feels the same way. I didn't think they took into consideration the pain and anguish caused . "They didn't realise how much emotional, financial, physical pain I have been put through. It's absolutely disgusting."

Manchester-born Whatmough was arrested soon after the wedding and now lives in Llangyfelach Road, Treboeth, West Glamorgan, Wales.

In sentencing, Judge Caroline Ludlow, said: "I consider that on the evidence before me it is quite clear that Carolyn believed herself to be married and that was important to her.

"It was also important to you not just for the emotional needs but because you then obtained a joint job together. It is quite clear that a trail of dishonesty underpins this. Her distress at finding that she was not married, was homeless and jobless, has been taken into the balance when sentencing."

If Whatmough breaches the 180 hours unpaid work, he faces six months in prison.