Bigamist commits suicide after emerging from jail a broken man

LONDON: A convicted bigamist hanged himself after his third wife threw him out for romancing a possible fourth bride, an inquest heard.

Adrian Linham, 44, had ended up in prison for his multiple marriages after being caught out by wife number two.

But Linham’s mental health took a downturn when third wife Hayley Totterdell, who had stood by him while he was behind bars, ended their relationship after learning he had started seeing another woman.

Linham’s mother, Anthea, told the inquest her son had suffered from depression and was left broken after his first marriage failed.

The coroner yesterday criticised mental health services for failing the father, who was not offered an appointment for 28 days when his desperate mother called for help.

Linham was jailed for bigamy last year after his second wife, Liz, 37, spotted photographs of his third wedding.

It emerged Linham had been secretly dating Totterdell for three years while telling his wife he was working away as a scuba diver. His second wife reported him, and he was jailed for 18 weeks in February last year. The inquest heard he had post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed after being bullied in jail where two brothers hanged themselves in the cell next to him. He also suffered from depression when his third marriage failed and he moved back in with his mother.

He left the house in March this year, telling his mother: “I love you so much mum. You don’t have to worry about me any more.”

A dog walker later found Linham hanged in a barn at a remote farm. Officers found a note written in blood in his bedroom which read: “Sorry.”

His mother told the inquest at Flax Bourton Coroner’s Court his depession started when he divorced his first wife. “He found out his wife had been having an affair and it broke him. A year later he remarried on the rebound. He was never married to her in this country therefore saw no harm.

“When the second wife found out it was the beginning of the end.”

Days before his death, Linham was taken to hospital after worried bystanders saw him leaning over a cliff edge. He had overdosed on overthe-counter tablets and was admitted into ICU.

He was discharged from hospital three days later after a 90-minute interview.