Husband exposed as a bigamist when shocked fourth wife opens divorce letter from third



Serial husband: Cheal Sweetman has been sentenced to 11 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months



A woman discovered she was married to a bigamist when she opened a letter issuing divorce proceedings from her husband's third wife.

Cheal Sweetman, 39, married Juliet Bond on December 31, 2004, even though his third marriage to Amanda Madden had not been dissolved.

The Aylesbury Aylesbury Crown Court heard that Ms Bond discovered the bigamy last year, some time after she had separated from Sweetman.

The letter from Ms Madden's solicitors spelled out her concern that she was not formally divorced from Sweetman.

It was then that Ms Bond reported the bigamy to police.

In a written statement to the court, she described how the revelation about her marriage had been life-changing.

'I cannot move forward with my life at this time as I do not know if I am married to the defendant,' Ms Bond said.

Deputy Circuit Judge Roger Conner told Sweetman, that people like him posed a threat to 'one of the building blocks of society'.

He sentenced the 39-year-old from High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, to 11 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

'You must have known you were misleading the registrar about the fact that you were married to your third wife,' Judge Conner said.

Prosecutor Richard Moss said: 'The defendant told Juliette he had been married three times before but believed his marriage to Amanda had been dissolved.

'Having sent a petition to the county court for divorce, he assumed he was divorced.'

Martin Hooper, defending Sweetman, told the Judge Connor: 'He should have known from previous experiences that he could not just assume that he was divorced.

'But he went through a ceremony of marriage and a relationship with Juliet for a genuine reason - there was no other motive.'

Mr Hooper also told the court that Ms Bond had been involved in an extra-marital affair and Sweetman subsequently left the family home with 'just a bag of clothes'.

Sweetman was convicted of bigamy at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court on August 26 this year and committed to Crown Court for sentencing.

Judge Connor ordered Sweetman to complete 100 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community.

Sweetman, whose new girlfriend attended the sentencing, was also ordered to pay £220 in costs to the court.