Bigamy was once a very common crime at one time, especially before the law changes in the 1970's which allowed easier and easier divorces.
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| Bigamy Not Always An Enviable State .... |
Nowadays its mostly restricted to those Muslims who refuse to recognise
our laws, and take 'Islamic wives', usually while on welfare benefits,
so that we have to house and fund their lifestyle choices, instead of
deporting them.
The latest figures suggest that there are as many as 20,000 polygamous Muslim marriages in the UK. Virtually none is ever arrested as the community nor indeed the 'wives' ever report it. But occasionally a real old time bigamist turns up and one such is the serial 'marry merchant', bio-chemist Robert Marchmont of County Durham, England, who at age 59, really should know better, or at least have more sense.
Married legitimately in 1979 to a Catholic lady, he had 2 kids, but by 1999 the marriage was over and due to his wife’s religious convictions, they simply separated. But by 2006 he was just 'itchin for a hitchin' and so he married wife number two, despite not actually being divorced ... appropriately they got married at 'Gretna Green' in Scotland, which suggests that he had half a thought on the fact that he was still legally married. For those who don't know, Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland once famous for runaway weddings
However, his first wife later heard about this second marriage, and in 2013 she informed the police .... following a little chat with them, he 'separated' from his second 'wife'. However, not one to let the grass grow under his feet, he had already met wife number three, and married her in the November. Eventually it all came out and he was charged with bigamy, and he was sentenced as follows.
A community payback order with 120 hours unpaid work in February 2015, for his first bigamous marriage offence, and then in August 2015 he got a 16 weeks jail sentence (suspended for a year), and a further 150 hours unpaid work for his second bigamous marriage. He also informed the court that he was in a bit of a financial mess due to his wedding debts.
His third 'wife', rather sportingly, took it good part and said that 'Perhaps he did a silly thing, I'm not disputing that' .... sounds like a keeper to me Robert.
His third wife also has very big hands, definitely a keeper. I agree with Mark Twain, although I'm less against having a wife as having a marriage ceremony, and even less inclined to see them in films! Social pressure had me watch The Godfather as it was "the best film ever made" - it turned out to be a succession of marriage videos! Ironically it was also about social pressure.
ReplyDeleteAt least its off your bucket list.
DeleteYes but I won't get those 3 hours back!
DeleteCitizen Kane was the best ever movie for years on the lists. Mark Kermode the film critic always says it was The Exorcist, which always seems a bit of a strange choice.
DeleteIMDB ranks The Godfather along with The Shawshank Redemption at joint #1
The British Film Institute (BFI) ranks Vertigo at # 1 (followed by Citizen Kane).
The American Film Institute (AFI)ranks Citizen Kane at #1 (followed by The Godfather).
Wiki (as ever) gives a multiple listing from different sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_considered_the_best
Those 3 hours are therefore not wasted according to most critics views as The Godfather is right up there on most critic and public vote listings.
I always have a soft spot for 'Zulu' as best movie .... kinda puts me in the Mark Kermode whacko choice, camp. LOL. Thanks for the comments.
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