A Pembrokeshire man married his new love and then found himself arrested for bigamy.

Andrew McLeod-Baikie, 52, of Cresselly, wed Helen Leighfield in Kilgetty in August 2014.

He had paid £600 to an internet-based company to oversee his divorce from his first wife, Susan, and received documents he showed to the vicar before his second nuptials took place.

But when his first wife spotted McLeod-Baikie’s wedding photographs online, following a tip-off from a friend, she contacted police to say he was still legally married to her.

McLeod-Baikie was due to stand trial for having two wives at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Monday (February 1) but changed his plea to guilty following legal advice.

He was fined £400 and ordered to pay costs of £440.

“The defendant separated from his first wife in August 2010, and left the marital home,” said Crown prosecutor Sian Vaughan.

“His wife started divorce proceedings in January 2011, but McLeod-Baikie refused to acknowledge the paperwork and progress was very slow.

"His wife then saw pictures of the defendant’s wedding to another woman. She contacted him and he told her he’d divorced her on-line two years previously, but he couldn’t provide the correct evidence for this.”

Defence solicitor Mark Layton said he “couldn’t argue with the facts of the matter”.

“My client paid for and went through a process over the internet and he understood that he was divorced.

"He received paperwork and showed it to the vicar who went on to marry him,” Mr Layton explained.

“It was quite a large wedding, and he wasn’t secretive about it. He should have paid more attention to the paperwork he received, because, clearly, the decree absolute had not been granted.”

Mr Layton said McLeod-Baikie and his new wife would now have to dissolve their illegal union and get married again.

“When they re-enter in to marriage, it will be done properly,” he added.

“This was all just a misunderstanding.”