A “manipulative” bigamist who married his teenage stepdaughter and fathered children by both her and her mum has been spared jail.
John Ingram, who was already wedded to the 16-year-old’s teenager’s mother, changed his name to marry the girl in 1988 and claimed he did so as she would be entitled to additional benefits.
The now-69-year-old told a court that he had lied and told those officiating the ceremony – attended by his wife – that any previous marriages had ended.
Maidstone Crown Court heard Ingram has fathered several children with both women, though many of the youngsters had grown up unaware of paternity, and it was not until February 2020 that he was arrested for his deceptive lifestyle.
He admitted bigamy at a hearing in May last year but was spared jail by a judge who said that though he’d “exploited and abused” the trust of his family, he had only deceived the institution of marriage.
The court heard that Ingram, of Sheerness in Kent, had married his then teenage step-daughter in September 1988 at a ceremony attended by the girl’s mother, who was also his wife.
He told those officiating that any previous marriages had ended and signed the certificate as ‘Neil Carr’, having changed his name by deed poll to marry again.
The same surname was also used by his spouse when she signed as a witness on the same marital document.
When interviewed by police, he confessed and claimed the motive for the illegal marriage had been financial.
Ingram pleaded guilty to bigamy when he first appeared at Medway Magistrates’ Court in May last year.
However, due to the seriousness of the offence – which carries a maximum penalty of up to seven years in prison – the case was committed to the crown court for sentencing.
At that hearing last week (06/01), prosecutor Jeremy Kingsford said Ingram had married his wife in January 1983, before illegally wedding his step-daughter five years later.
Referring to a police interview following his arrest, Mr Kingsford said: “He admitted the offence and claimed he had married to allow [his step-daughter] to be entitled to additional government benefits.
“He confirmed he had changed his name by deed poll to do this. He told police that [his wife] was present for the wedding ceremony and that when he married [the step-daughter] she was 16 and the relationship was consensual.”
Ingram also admitted in his police interview that his legal spouse didn’t know that he was the biological father of all the children he shared with her daughter.
Mr Kingsford added that official checks carried out during the police investigation confirmed that neither marriage had legally ended in the intervening years.
Ingram, who is known to have used several aliases in the past, has eight previous convictions for 19 offences committed between 1973 and 1992, including theft and obtaining property by deception.
The pensioner’s current relationship status was not revealed in court, although his barrister, Mark O’Connor, revealed that he’s the sole carer of the older woman, who now has dementia.
Mr O’Connor also told the court that any deception arising from the bigamy was against the institution of marriage rather than the two women. Revealing how Ingram’s then-wife had also used the name ‘Carr’ to sign the marriage certificate when she acted as a witness at the illegal ceremony, he said: “In this case, the two women involved and Mr Ingram were all cognisant to the fact that this was a bigamous marriage when it was entered into.”
Mr O’Connor added that any distress caused to the children over paternity was not a result of the criminality, but “the decision of the parents not to inform them who their biological father was”.
Arguing that the bigamist could be spared jail, Mr O’Connor said any impact of a custodial sentence would be “grave” due to Ingram’s caring responsibilities. “There are elements of deception and he has changed his name by deed poll to allow the marriage to go ahead,” he continued. “But the deception is to the institution of marriage, rather than the women involved.”
When asked by the judge, Recorder David Vince, for his reasons for committing bigamy, Ingram himself confirmed from the dock that it was to enable his step-daughter to obtain benefits.
No explanation for the lengthy delay between his arrest and first court appearance could be given by the prosecution, although it was accepted it was not the fault of Ingram himself.
However, Recorder Vince said that, along with Ingram’s guilty plea and his role as a carer, it was a factor he had taken into account when deciding that the appropriate punishment could be community-based.
He told Ingram: “Bigamy undermines the institution of marriage but aside from that, in this particular case it was essentially a crime of deception, though not to the women concerned but to those officiating and to anyone else who were deceived by being shown evidence of the marriage.
“You falsely claimed, as it is clear on the marriage certificate, that you were no longer married, all previous marriages having been dissolved. You committed this offence to provide access to benefits to which she would not otherwise be entitled, and that is an aggravating factor.”
He accepted there was no evidence of any distress having been caused to her, nor that she had been the victim of deceit.
“Indeed, it is clear she married you in the knowledge you were already married, albeit she was very young at the time – 16 years of age – and there must be some doubt as to the extent to which she fully appreciated what she was doing. Your [then-]wife was a witness to the marriage and was fully cognisant to what you were doing.”
Recorder Vince added that the children had suffered “considerable distress”, with the impact felt “to this day”, by the lies they had been told.
He also told pensioner Ingram that he agreed with the author of a pre-sentence report that no insight into his offending had been demonstrated.
The same report considered him a “controlling, manipulative man” who has “exerted power over his family members, exploiting and abusing their trust”.
But Recorder Vince added that while this may be the case, and was contested by Ingram himself, he faced sentencing for bigamy alone.
Ingram, who relies on a state pension for his income, was handed a two-year community order with a condition he undertakes up to 45 rehabilitation activity requirements.
He was also fined £300 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £150. The minimum age for marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales was raised from 16 to 18 years by a law change that came into force in February 2023.
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