A bigamist who wooed his fifth wife by claiming to be a decorated Falklands hero and then fleeced her for more than £50,000 has been jailed for 15 months.

John Lewis, 48, married Maureen Walder, from Minehead, Somerset, in a lavish Sri Lankan ceremony just months after meeting her in 2006.

He told her he had been gunned down in the Falklands – where he was also decorated for gallantry – and took her on lavish trips to Tuscany and Paris.

But he was actually still legally married to a previous wife and was racking up huge debts by applying for loans in her name.

He even got the couple a job house-sitting a mansion in Tuscany for a wealthy Italian family by fabricating his CV.

But his scam came tumbling down when Maureen returned to her home in Minehead in 2008 to find a pile of letters from debt collection agencies.

A subsequent investigation found he had defrauded over £50,000 in loans and mortgages in her name.

Lewis pleaded guilty to bigamy and three charges of fraud and was jailed for 15 months at Taunton Crown Court on Friday.

Detective Constable Darren Lipscombe, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: "John Lewis targeted vulnerable women, gained their trust in a bid to control their lives and then fraudulently obtained money for his own needs. In the process he committed bigamy.

"I hope the sentence handed to Lewis by the court will bring some comfort and closure to the victims affected."

Lewis met Maureen, 54, in April 2006 in a night club and instantly swept her off her feet by claiming he was a war hero who survived being shot in the Falklands.

He whisked her away to Paris and proposed the following year, with the couple getting married at a lavish ceremony in Sri Lanka that year.

The travel company required an affidavit to say they were free of impediments, and they married in October.

But Lewis was not free to marry before June 2008 when his divorce from his fourth wife became absolute. That year, Lewis and Maureen agreed to apply for a £70,000 mortgage, although Lewis actually received £89,000. In 2007, Lewis had applied for a £10,000 loan before another for £26,000.

Maureen said: "I never want to see or hear from him again. Looking back I remember thinking it was too good to be true and it turns out it was.

"He's a liar through and through and I hope my story will save some other poor woman from being duped.

"All I wanted was a bit of romance but my hopes and dreams have come crashing down around me. I don't think I'll ever trust a man again."

Maureen is currently trying to get the loans annulled but she is still liable for the extra mortgage borrowing.

The court heard Lewis was suffering from Munchausen's syndrome – a psychological condition that can lead to compulsive lying.