Bigamist leaves a trail of debts and broken hearts

Four-times married Shropshire bigamist James Fletcher has left a trail of debts and devastation in his wake.

The 51-year-old is now using an alias and runs a photography business with his fourth wife. Today his previous wives spoke of their hurt after discovering he was a love cheat. Fletcher, also known as Paul Keitley-Fletcher, of Moreton Crescent, Belle Vue, Shrewsbury was yesterday jailed for eight mon- ths, suspended for a year.

He admitted marrying American Margaret Peters while still married to Sarah Whalley.

He was also given a 12-month supervision order at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Ms Peters and Ms Whalley today spoke of how they married Fletcher, before finding out his bigamy.

Ms Whalley was swept off her feet by Fletcher in the summer of 1984 and the couple married at Bishop's Stortford Registry Office after a six-week whirlwind romance.

The pair lived together with Ms Whalley's teenage daughter before moving to south Wales and then to Shropshire in 1993.

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Ms Whalley said that year was devastating for her as she was given five months to live after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer — a situation Fletcher later used as the inspiration for a heartbreaking tale he told Margaret Peters in America.

Ms Whalley was left to pick up the pieces after Fletcher suddenly left their home in Acton Burnell, near Shrewsbury, in July 1996 after 12 years of marriage without explanation.

She said: "He just left and I didn't know where he had gone. He used my credit card to buy his flight to America. He had even took my car and left it in a premium rate airport car park."

Ms Whalley said she later learned Flet- cher, the son of a prison officer, had been planning his departure for months after charming Ms Peters, of New York State, USA, after meeting her on the internet.

Cancer

Ms Whalley said: "I had noticed a Valentine's card in February that year but he said it was just an office joke and he dismissed it. After speaking to Margie I now know she met him at the airport when he got to the USA ."

Ms Whalley said she was aware Fletcher had been married before he met her, but says she only knows her name was Andrea and that she lived in the Luton area.

She tried to track her down but had been unable to.

Ms Peters said Fletcher began his new life in the States by telling a made-up sob story to her that his British wife Sarah had died of cancer. She added they married four months after he arrived, at Geneva, New York, and she was unaware of his actual life in the UK with Ms Whalley.

Fletcher landed a top digital photography job at a school in Rushmore and worked there until he lost his post in 2005.

Ms Peters said he racked up huge debts as he set up a photography and computer business that failed before, in October 2008, telling Ms Peters he had been invited to speak at a conference in London. She said he did not return.

"I suppose I feel foolish for falling for a conman. I was naive," said Ms Peters. "He has become a pathetic excuse of a human being. He deserves to be in prison to pay for all the harm he has caused.

"I feel empty inside. All of those years I thought I was being a supportive wife, while the truth is I was a pawn in a manipulation game being played by a sociopath.

"The whole experience has been quite daunting. I feel used, abused and thrown away like garbage.

"As a gift to myself on Valentine's Day, 2009, I called the authorities in England to report the bigamy. I found his marriage licence to Sarah online and ordered copies of it for the police. I worked constantly, searching for information I could to make sure this man did not do any more damage to anyone else's life."

Care

Fletcher now runs Keitley-Fletcher Photography. His wife Liz Smith-Keitley is described as a "self-made businesswoman" with more than a dozen years spent launching and running successful businesses, according to www.kfphoto.co.uk.

The children's day nursery propriet­or also runs Club 0-5 in Telford and Club 0-14 in Shrewsbury which provides care for youngsters.

Mrs Smith-Keitley was not available for comment despite attempts to contact her by the Shropshire Star. She married Fletcher in December 2008 at Shrewsbury Registry Office. It is only legal because Sarah Ann Whalley, of Hertfordshire, obtained a divorce 10 years earlier.

By Russell Roberts