Conservative council candidate in bigamy revelation

The Eastbourne Herald has the news:

A TORY candidate in next week’s county council elections is today exposed as a former bigamist.

The Herald has uncovered documents showing Reg Jenkins, who is standing for the Conservatives in Devonshire, married his current wife, Huang Qi, in Shanghai, China, in February 1992 while he was still married to his first wife, Eleanor…

[This] is an offence under Section 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and carries a maximum prison sentence on conviction of seven years. Mr Jenkins, 66, who runs a guest house in Cambridge Road, said yesterday he did not think he had done anything wrong. His 47-year-old wife is reportedly on holiday in China.

In a statement issued through the Eastbourne Conservative Association, Mr Jenkins admitted he may have made an ‘error of judgement’.

The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is, as I’m sure you’ll know, also the act which outlaws “Placing wood, &c., on a railway, with intent to endanger passengers”, “Obstructing or assaulting a clergyman or other minister in the discharge of his duties” and “Placing wood, &c., on a railway, with intent to endanger passengers”.