Bigamist exposed through Facebook is sentenced at Chichester court

Andrew O'Clee outside Chichester Crown Court PICTURE BY EDDIE MITCHELL

A BIGAMIST convinced his wife he had joined the witness protection programme and had to live in a safe house so that he could marry a second woman. But his double life was uncovered when he was tagged in an ice bucket challenge video shared on Facebook.

A TANGLED web of ‘lies and forgery’ caught up with 36-year-old Andrew O’Clee when his bigamy was uncovered on social media.

The deception went on for a number of years before his first wife Michelle saw a video of his ice bucket challenge on Facebook in August last year, captioned ‘uncle Andrew and auntie Philippa’.

She then saw photographs of her husband’s second wedding and reported it to the police.

O’Clee was arrested in September, 2014.

After pleading guilty, O’Clee, of Wildwood Close, Chiddingfold, was sentenced to eight months in prison at Chichester Crown Court, and will serve half in custody.

The court heard Andrew met Michelle in 2000 and the pair married in West Acton in 2008.

They began trying for a baby in 2011 – the same time he met his second wife, Philippa.

He got engaged to Philippa in 2012 and they married in August, 2013.

Prosecuting, Rachel Beckett said Andrew forged a decree absolute, purporting to have divorced his first wife.

He told Philippa they had separated after he caught his wife being unfaithful. The document was accepted by the church when the pair married in Kirdford.

His mother and brother attended the ceremony under the illusion he had divorced his first wife.

In 2014, Michelle and Andrew’s daughter was born.

Michelle O’Clee said: “Thinking back, as I do every single minute of every single day, I had no reason not to trust Andrew.

“In 2012 he told me he had a new job and work was involved in fraudulent issues.

“I was told he would have to be taken to a safe house with his colleagues for his and my own safety. He was taken to a safe house every night and I wasn’t allowed to know the location.

“I was told by him not to tell my family or friends. I became paranoid and constantly fearful for my safety. In the daytime I believed he was at work.