When you remarry as a divorcee, it’s generally accepted that you are actually a divorcee. However a man from Derry has just been fined £600 for committing bigamy after he admitted getting married to a woman, when he was already married.

Louis Guille admitted bigamy as he had married a woman on July 23rd 2004, but was still married to a woman from over 20 years previous. In 1977 Gulle married another woman, but separated just two years later. However the first wife refused to grant him a divorce in all that time, so when he remarried in 2004 he was committing bigamy.

George Copeland is his defence lawyer, he explained the extenuating circumstances surrounding the bigamy case:

His first wife went back to England. That was over 20 years ago. He tried to get her to consent to a divorce but she refused to sign the divorce papers.

He should have gone through the process of irretrievable breakdown without her consent on the basis that they were separated for a minimum of five years. He broke the law. He met another woman and they fell in love and foolishly got married before he divorced his first wife.