A lorry driver has been jailed for cheating his terminally ill wife out of £30,000 of incapacity benefits and committing bigamy by marrying a new bride on their wedding anniversary.
Anthony Foley (58) "erased" Maxine, his wife of more than 20 years, from his life when she became so ill she needed 24-hour care, and secretly married Russian woman Tamara Kudinova (49).
Relatives and friends of Maxine expressed disgust at his double life and police accused him of “extreme callousness”. Ms Kudinova’s family said she did not realise Foley’s wife was alive when she married him.
Foley cut off contact with his sick wife in 2006, telling friends and neighbours she had died when she was in fact being looked after in a Staffordshire care home.
Over six years he withdrew her incapacity payments from her post office account to pay off his own debts, and in 2007 travelled to Russia where he met Kudinova.
Foley married Kudinova at Birmingham register office in October 2008, using divorce documents from a previous failed marriage of his in the late 1970s to persuade staff he was single. Neighbours were surprised when he and his new bride moved into the home where he had lived with Maxine in Erdington, Birmingham.
Maxine died last year aged 49 of the rare nervous system disease, Friedreich’s ataxia, but Foley did not attend the funeral or send a condolence card. In the same month he was arrested following an investigation by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and West Midlands police.
Foley was jailed for 20 months at Birmingham crown court after admitting charges of bigamy and obtaining benefits by deception.
Recorder Mark Jackson told him: “You perpetrated a calculated deception. You did not visit (Maxine) at the care home. Your attitude was out of sight, out of mind.”
The court heard Foley pretended he was free to marry Ms Kudinova by producing a decree absolute from a marriage that had been dissolved before his wedding with Maxine. He then used his power of attorney over his wife to siphon off her benefits.
After the sentencing, Maxine’s mother, Irene Jones, said: “I was shocked he had the nerve to marry this new wife on the same date he married my daughter. I’m sure he loved our Maxine once. I think he’s the kind of man who can’t bear to be on his own.
"I didn't even know about his Russian wife until the court case. I was there for the sentencing and I was glad to see him get his comeuppance. I have no animosity towards his other wife. She is a victim too. He (Foley) can only be described as a Walter Mitty character. How he thought he could get away with the things he did is beyond me."
Speaking at Foley’s home, Ms Kudinova’s daughter from a previous relationship said her mother was “devastated”. She said: “We are in bits. We obviously didn’t know what was going on. We cannot believe this has happened and just want it all to go away. We feel utterly betrayed.”
Foley met his new bride after travelling to Russia to explore his interest in the country’s history. They became friends and stayed in regular contact for 12 months before Foley proposed and they moved into the bungalow where he and Maxine had lived.
A neighbour, Suzanne Woodward (40), said: “He told us Maxine had died a few years ago and we were so sad. He even gave us her old books. We never had an invite to the funeral, we thought it was a bit strange but never said anything about it. Now it all makes sense, it’s so twisted.”
Foley’s secret life emerged when officials from the DWP alerted West Midlands police in 2012 following a review of benefits paid to his deceased wife.
Fraud investigators from the force’s economic crime unit found Foley made 221 withdrawals using his wife’s bank card – none of which was handed to her or used to help fund her ongoing care.
DC Chris Aldridge said: “It’s an incredibly sad case and an act of extreme callousness from Foley. Not only did he quickly stop visiting his wife in the home but pocketed her incapacity payments. In interview he admitted using the cash for day-to-day living – but he also used it to fund a trip to Russia in 2007 when he met a woman he would go on to marry.
“He used the decree absolute from his first marriage in order to wed for a third time, knowing full well he was committing bigamy. He effectively erased his wife from his past.”
Guardian service, PA