A FORMER church minister, who worked at a hotel in Evesham has been jailed for three years.

Roderick Sangster, 58, was found guilty of entering into a bigamous marriage by a jury at Warwick Crown Court in November.

His trial was conducted in his absence, but he handed himself in to police in the south of England earlier this week.

The court previously heard that Sangster wed Janet Wallace, whom he met on the internet while living and working in Evesham, while still married to Jill Sangster, leaving them both thousands of pounds in debt.

Sentencing, Judge Marten Coates told him: “You left your first wife, debts had risen to impossible levels.

“You left your second wife bankrupt and your third partner almost destitute.

“Your motives, I am sure, were dishonest from the start.

“Bigamy cases are rare. I think they are rare because the public has a greater regard for the institution and obligations of marriage than you do.”

Sangster’s barrister, Adam Western, told Warwick Crown Court that his client wanted to apologise to the women involved – his first wife of 25 years, Frances Tait, his second wife, Jill Sangster, and Janet Wallace, whom he married illegally in 2004.

Sangster, whose last known address was the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Trinity Street, Chester, was given a three-year sentence for bigamy, 12 months for a charge of forgery and two months for failing to attend his trail – all to run concurrently.