Bigamist sentenced

Blushing bride...Ashley Baker and Emily Horne on their wedding day at Chadderton Town Hall.

A bigamist who revealed to her fifth husband on their honeymoon that she was still married to four other men has been sentenced.

Emily Jane Horne (born 09/12/1978) and whose address cannot be published for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to bigamy at an earlier hearing. She was today, Monday 27 July 2009, sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for two years and a 12 month supervision order at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

Horne married her fifth husband, after meeting him at a Rochdale massage parlour, Ashley Baker (25), on 14 September 2007 at Chadderton Town Hall in Oldham.

She and her new husband, of Hathershaw, went on honeymoon to Scotland and were in a train when Horne revealed she had been jailed for six months in January 2004 for bigamy under the pseudonym Amileannya Carmichael.

She told her fifth husband she had been married four times previously and none of the marriages had been cancelled, but still believed they were married 'in her heart'.

Her latest bigamy offence only came to light in the summer of 2008 when the pair split up and Horne made a false allegation about her husband's behaviour to police. During the course of the investigation, Horne was exposed as having married illegally for the fourth time.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police arrested Horne again in August 2008, and during the course of inquiries Horne's first husband was found. He said he had sent divorce papers to his wife while she was in prison in 2004 but they were never returned to him.

After she was bailed and the case passed to Oldham CID, Horne went missing and was circulated as wanted. In November 2008, she was found in the West Midlands and charged with bigamy.

Detective Constable Colette Kelleher, of Oldham CID, said: "After her one and only legal marriage more than 10 years ago, Horne entered into and left behind a string of broken relationships and marriages.

"The judge at Ipswich Crown Court described her as a very predatory woman during one hearing and that is certainly what she did - she preyed upon and manipulated these men. Why she did this is unclear, and it does not appear she did it for any kind of financial gain or ulterior motive.

"But what is fact is that on each occasion, she betrayed the love and honesty her husbands bestowed upon her by knowingly marrying them when she was aware it was a total sham. I can't imagine how painful it must have been for her fifth husband when she produced newspaper articles showing the marriage was based on lies and deceit.

"Bigamy is not something to be sniggered at or brushed under the carpet. It is a very serious offence and the lives of five men have been severely affected by Horne's selfish and quite frankly, cruel, actions.

"I have no doubt this case will attract a lot of publicity but the only person at fault is Horne herself. "