A man has been given a 16-months suspended sentence for bigamy after his wife read his boasting on Friends Reunited that he had remarried.

Carl Wallace, 45, known by old school pals as 'Wally', told friends on the site that he was "due to get married in September in Italy". One of them passed the news on to Mrs Wallace and the man was arrested after she contacted police.

The father of four was refused a quick divorce by his wife of 22 years and decided to wait the statutory period of separation of five years which would have expired in July 2006.

But he told magistrates in Italy that he was a bachelor last September so that he could marry Selena McDonnell, 21 years his junior.

The sentence was suspended for two years and Wallace was ordered to pay £250 costs. Wallace and McDonald hope to marry after his divorce is finalised.