A bigamist was today jailed for five months by Northampton Magistrates after he married a woman in Las Vegas while he still had a wife in the UK.
Garry Floodgate, aged 54, of Sandown Court, Bletchley, appeared in court this morning and pleaded guilty to the charge of marrying Sheila Siebert in Las Vegas on June 5, 2012 while he was already married.
Sally-Ann Flemmings, prosecuting, said Floodgate married a woman called Rachel in 2004 but their divorce was not finalised until July 26, 2012, which was after he had married Sheila Siebert.
Dan Green, mitigating, said Floodgate acted out of ignorance rather than malice and had difficulty understanding divorce paperwork as he was illiterate.
He said Floodgate met Sheila Siebert on the internet and went to Canada to visit her and they later married before he returned home to the UK.
Mr Green said Floodgate had been married before he married Rachel but paid a solicitor to deal with the proceedings.
He said when divorcing Rachel, Floodgate handled the proceedings himself and when Sheila Siebert found out that he was still married, she ended their relationship.
District Judge Timothy Daber sentenced Floodgate to 20 weeks in prison, for which he will serve half of the sentence.