A FORMER soldier who married for a second time without divorcing his first wife and blurted out the truth during a row was yesterday spared jail.

Matthew Spencer was given a suspended jail sentence with a curfew after a judge ruled his offending was not for gain or with fraudulent intent.

Judge Guy Whitburn told him: "Bigamy is an extremely serious matter and the degree of seriousness varies, and this falls into the lesser category."

Spencer, 29, married fellow soldier's daughter Cheryl Rideout while serving with the Army at a base in Wales more than nine years ago.

The couple separated in 2001 -three years after they married and had a daughter, Lauren.

Spencer, from North Yorkshire, was then posted to Northern Ireland.

A court heard that he refused to sign divorce papers sent to him by his wife, and she lost contact with him.

But in 2006, Spencer met and married another woman and on official papers for the wedding, said he was a bachelor.

The second ceremony was conducted by an Army padre at a base in Germany, where Spencer was serving with Lance Corporal Rachel Scott.

Spencer became engaged to Miss Scott in August 2006, married in October and separated in December 2006. He later left the forces and moved to Richmond.

At a hearing at Northallerton Magistrates' Court in November, Spencer, of Ryder's Wynd, admitted bigamy.

The magistrates heard that the deception came to light during an argument with his second wife, when he shouted: "I wish I had stayed with my other wife."

Judge Whitburn imposed a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for a year, and a three-month electronic tag curfew between 9pm and 5am.

He told Spencer: "You gained nothing by your second marriage and, equally, it was not done for reward in the sense certain marriages are conducted to avoid the immigration provisions."

James Fenney, in mitigation, told Teesside Crown Court: "He assures the court that he is extremely sorry for any hurt that he has caused.

"There was no obvious motivation for him to state deliberately that he was eligible to be re-married when he was not."