Yvonne Gibney and her husband Maurice Gibney had been married for 17 years.
So when the 55-year-old mother-of-two logged onto Facebook and saw photos of a lavish wedding ceremony on an overseas beach, the last person she expected to see suited up as a groom was her husband.
But that’s exactly what she found: photos of her 48-year-old husband in a wedding suit, kissing a woman in a white dress– in an extravagant celebration that reportedly cost the equivalent of about $82,000, according to the Daily Mail.
His new “wife” was Suzanne Prudhoe, a blonde teacher whose Facebook profile says she lives in Oman — the Arab country in which the bigamous wedding took place.
Yvonne Gibney learned more about the wedding by phoning the British Embassy in Oman and pretending she was interested in booking an event there, Express.co.uk reports. She soon learned the event had been held in March 2013 — meaning her husband had been “married” to Ms Prudhoe for 11 months.
A shocked Mrs Gibney went to police with evidence of the nuptials — then took him to court in the UK.
According to The Mirror, it was revealed in court that Mr Gibney, a 48-year-old globe-trotting Oman Oil contractor, had cheated on his wife at Christmas in 2011, claiming he had to go away “on business” — when really, he was seeing Ms Prudhoe.
Express.co.uk reports that Mrs Gibney said in court: “He said it was due to pressures of work. The reality was to conceal the relationship and holiday with her….
“The following year he claimed he would spend Christmas with his family but pulled out citing depression.
Top Comments
Another reason not to have Facebook!
To avoid finding out your husband is married?
So you would rather not have a chance to know if your husband was cheating on you? I would much rather know so I could get rid of him! It's the husband that is at fault,not Facebook! Ignorance is not always bliss.
Obviously this is awful but I find it so strange that people don't divorce and become bigamists these days.
Years ago when divorce was difficult to obtain, and records were easy to fudge, I'm sure lots of people just moved away from their wife and married someone else because bigamy was pretty much their only option.
But these days why on earth would you do that!