AS A serial bride who was jailed for bigamy was freed on appeal, Lancashire police confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that they would investigate claims that she had been married to five men - and not four as stated in court.

Lynda Selvam from Kendal was last week jailed for 90 days for marrying her fourth husband while she was still wed to husband number three.

This week a judge at Preston Crown Court said that although jail had been justified, 90 days was a long sentence. She was freed after serving ten days in prison.

Mrs Selvam, who gave her age as 44, and address as D'Urton Lane, Preston, wept with relief on hearing the news. She had been sentenced at Blackpool Magistrates' Court for an offence of bigamy committed in April 2002, which she admitted.

However, several readers of The Westmorland Gazette claim Lynda Selvam was originally called Lynda Martin, who married Gerald Graveson in Kendal in 1966. Lynda and Ged Graveson went on to run the Duke of Cumberland pub in Kendal and were well known.

James Scott, of Kendal, remembered the pair when they ran the pub. He knew Lynda again when she was married to Allan Bargh and the couple lived next door to him in Crook Road, Staveley.

"I used to drink in the Duke of Cumberland most Kendal people knew her from there."

A copy of the marriage certificate shows that Lynda Martin was 16 when she wed Gerald Graveson, which would mean she was now around 53 or 54.

Officers at Preston CID this week confirmed they did not know about the marriage, were interested to receive the information and would make the necessary inquiries.

The court was this week told that her first marriage in 1986 was to a man called Allan Bargh. They went on to divorce and, in 1992, she married solicitor Paul Anthony. They were married for around nine years before getting divorced.

Marriage number three came in April 2001, in Gibraltar, to a man called Christopher Schollar. Then, after returning to England, they went through another ceremony at Kendal Register Officer in August of that year.

She then met consultant psychiatrist Dr Karrupiah Selvam. He proposed that same year and the following April they married in Gibraltar. Problems arose in the marriage and Dr Selvam began making inquiries.

The court was told he discovered she had been married shortly before she met him. He brought that to the attention of the authorities and told the police he felt professionally embarrassed and humiliated.

Her lawyer, Greg Earnshaw, told the court it was accepted that the offence of bigamy had been a deliberate one. She did not have any previous convictions and, as a result of her sentence, had been dismissed from her job. There had been much publicity and her punishment would continue long after the proceedings had concluded.

Judge Pamela Badley, sitting with two magistrates, said the lower court had been right to find that the case justified a prison sentence. In considering the appeal, she and the magistrates had to look at the circumstances, which included the loss of her good name and a moving letter Mrs Selvam had written.

They were satisfied that prison had been a "devastating" experience for her.

The judge said: "We have come to the conclusion that although the case has been properly marked by a custodial sentence, that we can draw back from imposing the balance of the sentence."

After the hearing, Mrs Selvam said: "Prison was the worst experience of my life."

Asked if she had been put off marriage she said: "I'm getting a dog."

The Gazette was unable to contact Mrs Selvam this week about the more recent allegations.