Serial bigamist spared jail after dressing as seventh 'husband' to obtain prescription drugs

A serial bigamist who fooled a doctor into giving her sleeping pills by dressing as her seventh husband has been spared a jail sentence. Emily Horne cropped her hair and wore a baggy football shirt and trousers to trick the doctor into believing she was Craig Hadwin. Horne, 33, of Wells, Somerset, admitted two charges of fraud by false representation and asked for a further three similar offences to be taken into account.

She was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed in May 2009, when she was convicted of bigamy. But Recorder Jonathan Barnes, sitting at Taunton crown court, said he would give her one last chance. "You have come terribly, terribly close to being sent to prison," he said. "This will be the last chance. If you come back before the courts for any further offences of this kind – and I am talking about the obtaining of prescription drugs from the NHS by deception – I do not have the slightest doubt that the judge dealing with you will send you to immediate custody.



"I think you are a sad figure with serious problems rather than a wicked person. Obtaining drugs from the NHS is a serious matter." The judge imposed a 12-month community order with supervision and a 28-day electronically tagged curfew from 7pm to 7am. Horne's life as a serial bigamist was set out three years ago when she appeared at Manchester crown court. She was married, for the only legal time, in December 1996, the day after her 18th birthday. Her husband was a soldier; they separated but did not divorce and she moved on to her next partner while he was posted abroad.

Over the years she changed her name several times and took part in six more wedding ceremonies, never telling her new partner she was married. She also worked as a glamour model and appeared in adult films. Horne, who appeared as Max Accastes Quiberberon on the court list in Taunton, has been diagnosed as having a personality disorder. The court was told she met Craig Hadwin on an internet dating site and tricking him into a wedding ceremony in Scotland. She is still in a relationship with him and they are living in a disused pub in Somerset.