A WOMAN who married a bigamist has revealed he told bizarre lies in order to conceal his secret family – but added he has now moved on with another girlfriend.
Ex-soldier Jason Hayter, 48, carried out a “cruel deception” by living a double life with two separate families before his lies were exposed on Facebook, a judge said.
He’d met both women on dating websites in 2008 and 2010, shortly before being posted to Germany with the army.
He married Tracey Larkcombe in 2010 when she was pregnant with their first child and they had a second child together in 2015.
After getting married, he took his wife’s surname, becoming Jason Larkcombe.
However his complicated love life saw him simultaneously exchanging messages and visits with Mrs Hayter and they had their first child in 2014.
The court heard he married Sara Hayter in 2016 and started a family, despite not divorcing Mrs Larkcombe.
He was caught out when his daughter from the later marriage messaged his earlier wife on Facebook and started asking questions.
Sara Hayter then contacted police after learning of his double life, which the court heard had devastated the lives of two families including his five children.
Hayter had previously pleaded guilty to bigamy at Norwich Magistrates Court in September.
The former guardsman was told he could face up to seven years in prison, but yesterday he was given an eight-week sentence, suspended for a year.
Hayter, of Kirby Cross, Essex, appeared at court in a wheelchair and with his current partner.
Chris Youell, prosecuting, said his complicated love life had seen him “living a double and even triple life at various stages”.
He told the court: “He carried out quite a lot of lying and a lot of toing and froing geographically.”
His two wives said Hayter would go missing for lengthy periods, usually on the pretext of army training or due to his mental health.
Mrs Larkcombe said while stationed in Germany with the army he was “always going backwards and forwards to the UK for training. I never thought anything was wrong”.
She added: “Him being away was normal for us.”
But after one disappearance he had sent her a text message saying: “I don’t love you anymore I’m gay”.
She said she had been left to deal with debt collectors after he left permanently, adding: “He walked out on me and the children. He has never sent a birthday card and never asked about the children. We have had nothing from him.
“I was shocked to learn that he had married again and had three other children.”
Mrs Hayter said he would explain absences as being due to his training as a paramedic for London Ambulance Service.
She said: “We would always make plans together and at no point during this time did I suspect he had other families.
“I don’t want anything more to do with him. I did not see this coming. He has manipulated me.
“I believe everything he has said to me is a lie. I don’t think he knows the truth anymore.”
Charles Judge, mitigating, said his 23-year military career had included active service in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But leaving the army in 2014 had caused an “emotional rollercoaster” and though he retrained as a paramedic, he was diagnosed with PTSD and suffered a stroke.
He said his marriage in 2016 had been at a time when the 2010 marriage had broken down.
He told the court: “There is deep regret on his behalf, particularly towards the children. This has been a very salutary lesson to him.”
Judge Katharine Moore, sitting at Norwich Magistrates’ Court, told Hayter he’d “comprehensively deceived” those he purported to love.
She said: “You hid your previous marriage and lied during the ceremony of marriage to Sarah Hayter, rendering meaningless what should have been meaningful.
“You perpetrated a cruel deception, one that strikes at the heart of marriage, eroded trust and devastated families.”
