All This Is That: Sex In The News: Lesbian Bigamist Off The Hook; Shepherd Exonerated Over Sheep Sex

Suzanne Mitchell

A mother of five who married another woman while still married to her husband was given a suspended prison sentence today. Suzanne Mitchell, of Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty earlier to breaching a British Act, which allows same-sex couples to “marry”. She admitted lying about being single to enter a civil union with Caroline Beddows last year. At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Judge Robin Onions said Mitchell repeatedly lied in pursuit of the partnership, and her offence was one of “cruelty and deception”. Handing Mitchell an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years, Judge Onions said jailing the 30-year-old would have had a damaging effect on her children.

A Dutch man accused of having sex with a sheep got off the hook yesterday because the animal was unable to testify. The Dutchman, from Haaksbergen, in Holland, was arrested after a farmer caught him having sex with one of his sheep. The case, however, was thrown out of court as the sheep could not testify about consent or that it had suffered emotionally.