Serial bigamist's link to the murder that shocked Northern Ireland

The only legal husband of serial bigamist Emily Horne was jailed for disposing of a dismembered body (Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

The only legal husband of serial bigamist Emily Horne was jailed for disposing of the dismembered body of a teenager in Northern Ireland, it can be revealed.

Paul John Rigby — a former Royal Irish Regiment soldier — was convicted for his part in the gruesome murder of Co Tyrone teenager Sylvia Fleming more than a decade ago.

The 17-year-old, who was three months pregnant, was strangled in April 1998 following a bizarre sex session at the home of her then boyfriend, Stephen Scott.

Her body was cut up with a hacksaw and buried in the foundations of a half-built house at Circular Road in Omagh.

The former care worker’s body was not discovered until two months after she went missing and she could only be identified by her dental records.

Scott, a part-time firefighter, was handed a life sentence for the gruesome killing, while his friend Paul Rigby, who was 22 and had an address at Johnston Park in Omagh, received a two-and-a-half year jail term followed by two-and-a-half years on probation for helping to dispose of the body.

Miss Fleming’s family were outraged after 30-year-old Rigby walked free in 2001 having served just eight-and-a-half months at Magilligan Prison.

It has now emerged that Rigby was the first man to marry serial bride Emily Horne, 30, who was yesterday handed a 10-month suspended sentence after admitting bigamy for the fourth time. Speaking outside Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday, she said: “I think next time I should get a divorce.”

The former infantry soldier wed the ex-glamour model at a ceremony in York in December 1996 — on her 18th birthday. The couple briefly moved to Northern Ireland before Rigby was posted abroad — and their marriage broke up.

Manchester Crown Court was told that Horne’s mental state had been affected by the death of her sister when she was 18 and her unhappy marriage to Rigby.

It was claimed the 30-year-old, who has bipolar disorder, was left psychologically damaged after hearing about his conviction, but had never got their marriage annulled because she did not want to contact him.

Defence lawyer Paul Hodgkinson, said: “Her decision-making was affected by her mental health. She is an attention-seeker and a lady with emotional problems, but she has had to put up with a great deal of trauma in her life.

“She is sorry for what she has done and she is sorry for the pain she has caused to the men and their families.”

Horne left Paul Rigby for banker Sean Cunningham, whom she married in Leeds in February 1999. She then left him for website designer Chris Barrett, and tied the knot again in December 2000.

West Yorkshire Police became aware of her multiple marriages and cautioned her for two offences of bigamy in 2001.

But a year later Horne walked down the aisle for a third time — using her porn star name Amileannya Carmichael for her union with rail guard James Matthews — and failed to get her previous marriages annulled.

The police were alerted and she was given a six-month sentence at Ispwich Crown Court in 2004.

But the time behind bars did not deter her from marriage and Ashley Baker unwittingly became husband number five in September 2007.

The couple, who had known each other for just four months, wed at Chadderton Register Office near Oldham, Greater Manchester. But Horne dropped the bombshell about her married status as they headed off on honeymoon.

From The Belfast Telegraph