A married US economist lost a High Court battle against his Thai bride over a Facebook picture she uploaded that he feared would out his secret relationship with her.

Economic analyst Harlow Higinbotham, who lives and works in the US, married his first wife in 1991 before meeting Wipaporn Teekhungam in Bangkok in 2001, and they began a relationship.

He said he loved her, gave her an engagement ring and told her she was the perfect age to bear his children, the judge told the court.

He visited her whenever he was travelling in south-east Asia and, in January 2004, after meeting her parents and paying a dowry, they got 'married' at a ceremony in Thailand, although Ms Teekhungam knew he already had a wife. They then had triplets in 2008, who were named after Mr Higinbotham's family and took his surname.

But after the relationship broke down at the end of 2009, child support proceedings began in Thailand and the US. Five years later, Ms Teekhungam created the Facebook profile, which featured a photo of her and Mr Higinbotham with the triplets on their laps.