A MAN who told his wife and family he had terminal cancer while living a double life has been jailed.

Michael Eels, originally from Eastbourne, had a separate life with another wife in the north for years before his twisted secret was unravelled last year.

The 59-year-old told wife number one, Andrea, and their three children he had to move some 345 miles to Newcastle to receive “the best possible treatment” for his illness, Lewes Crown Court heard yesterday.

They got together in 1994 and married on February 13, 2003 –their anniversary was the day before Eels’s sentencing.

Eels claimed he was working away from home in the years running up to 2009, when he “broke the news” to his family that he was suffering from terminal cancer while on holiday with them.

But he was seeing his second wife-to-be, Sally Howard, after he met her online in 2008.

Eels married her in 2009 in Bexhill, and they moved to Northumberland together.

He borrowed £4,000 from Miss Howard’s father to pay for the wedding – and Andrea was also wiring  him cash when he needed it.

The prosecution said Eels, who pleaded guilty to bigamy last month, would travel back to Eastbourne monthly to spend three or four days with his family in his marital home.

His double life was exposed when Miss Howard discovered a Christmas card to her husband from Andrea.

She searched for Andrea on Facebook and messaged her to find out who she was.

Andrea opened the message last year. The two women met and, to their disbelief, found out they were married to the same man.

Eels was sentenced to three months behind bars for the crime.

Both his wives read their victim impact statements to the court.

Andrea fought back tears as she gave a statement to the court, saying: “Finding out that my husband had remarried came as a great shock to me.

“I genuinely believed he was suffering from jugular cancer. This caused me stress and worry.

“I had no one to talk to as I had to remain strong for our children.

“My children have been left without a father and no financial or emotional support.”

Eels left both women in deep financial trouble through his actions.

Miss Howard had to start selling her belongings to keep cash coming in as Eels became controlling and would not let her look for a job.

When her mother died, she had to use her inheritance to pay Eels’s debts. 

The £4,000 borrowed for their wedding remains outstanding.

Andrea, who lives at their home in Hampden Park, Eastbourne, was working 2.5 hours a day – she is now working ten hours a day, five days a week to make ends meet.

Oliver Snowden, defending, asked for a suspended sentence, and said his client “believed he had cancer”.

But Judge Christine Laing QC handed Eels three months behind bars and ordered him to pay both women £1,000 each in compensation.

A restraining order was also imposed on him, preventing him from contacting either wife indefinitely.