'I fell for loving husband then discovered 10 secret children by 7 women'

Mary Turner Thomson thought she had found her soulmate in the charming American who swept her off her feet. But after four years of marriage, her world collapsed with one phone call - from “the other Mrs Jordan.” Mary soon discovered that her “caring” husband, Will Jordan, was in fact a serial bigamist. Behind his polished façade, he had another wife, three fiancées, and six children - all living separate lives built on the same web of lies. After meeting his other wife, Mary realised she had been the victim of a calculating predator who had scammed her out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. After meeting online in 2000, Mary was told by her new partner that he was an American CIA agent, constantly travelling the world on top-secret, dangerous missions. Mary believed him to be a devoted husband and father — at least when he wasn’t away for months at a time for his ‘work’. When they met Mary was a 35-year-old single mum to her one-year-old daughter, Robyn. Mary said: “It was very important that any man I dated would be a positive influence in my daughter’s life, be reliable and sincere. Will, who was originally from New Jersey but living in Edinburgh, was intelligent, attentive and caring – everything I’d been looking for in a relationship.” But soon, his behaviour began to change. Mary explained: “He’d cancel plans at the last minute, or stand me up. Then he’d be deeply apologetic and promise it would never happen again. When he didn’t show up for a trip we’d planned to London in late December 2000, I resolved to finish it with him. “His response was to turn up on my doorstep at 7am the next morning and propose. I said ‘no’, as it was far too soon, but I also agreed not to end the relationship, because his remorse was so convincing." In April 2001, Jordan made a shocking ‘confession’. Mary remembered: “He’d originally told me he worked in high-level cyber security for banks and the authorities, which involved a lot of travel within the UK. “But then he revealed he was actually a CIA agent, having been recruited out of university, and travelled the world, often to dangerous locations. I didn’t know what to think. But he wasn’t asking me for anything, other than my belief… so eventually I accepted what he was telling me.” Jordan swore Mary to secrecy about his work, meaning, as she put it, “I could never complain if he was away for weeks or cancelled a date last minute, as he had no choice.” Two months later, Mary learned she was pregnant - surprising news, as Jordan had said he was infertile due to childhood mumps. “I was stunned, but delighted, as was he,” she said. But he was away for most of her pregnancy , claiming to be on a mission in the Middle East. He called sporadically, often in the middle of the night from a satellite phone, telling me about the bodies of dead children he’d seen and buildings reduced to rubble. “I was in a state of constant fear for him, while juggling my job as a business advisor with a two-year-old and a pregnancy. Despite repeatedly reassuring me he’d make it back in time for the birth in February 2002, he didn’t. My mum was with me instead.” He didn’t meet their daughter Eilidh until she was three months old. Jordan and Mary married in an Edinburgh registry office in October 2001. Her parents attended, but none of his family came — he said they couldn’t travel from the US. “I felt so happy that day. We’d married, and Will had decided to leave his CIA role and set up an IT business. He’d returned from the Middle East a broken man and said his work wasn’t making a difference to humanity. I really believed that day that we were beginning a new, more ‘normal’ chapter,” said Mary. For the next two years, life seemed ordinary, apart from Jordan’s frequent absences working as an IT contractor around the UK - a detail that, unusually, was true. Mary refuses to feel ashamed about what happened. She said: “I wouldn’t have two of my three wonderful children – even though Eilidh and Zach don’t have a relationship with their father – so I can’t regret meeting him, and I’m not to blame for what he did. Men like Jordan are professionals at what they do.” In summer 2004, Mary discovered she was pregnant again - but joy soon turned to fear. “Jordan told me that dangerous men, who knew him from his time in the CIA, had come after him and we needed to pay them off to protect me and the children. “I was terrified. He even trained me how to use a taser in case they broke into the house. I barely slept for months, I was so stressed and fearful.” Over the next year, Mary estimates she gave him £198,000 — from selling her flat, her savings, and her salary — believing the money was paying off these ‘dangerous men’. “It was £10k here, £3k there, then another £5k… Even if he was away, he’d call or email to say we needed to pay more or our kids would be killed. People always think they wouldn’t fall for a scam like this, but I was an intelligent, professional woman. “I believed it wholeheartedly, because Jordan was a master of deception and had spent years grooming me before asking me for anything.” The truth finally emerged in April 2006, when Mary answered her phone to a stranger. “Are you Mrs Jordan?” said the voice. “I’m the other Mrs Jordan.” Mary said: “After that call, I realised that the man I’d loved for six years, who I’d married and had two children with, didn’t exist. It was my rock bottom. It had all been a lie. Nothing, from the very first words he’d ever written to me, was true.” The other woman revealed she had been married to Will for 14 years and he had five children with her — plus two with their nanny. He had told her he was a spy for the Ministry of Defence . "My reality was crumbling around me as she spoke, but I was strangely relieved, as I realised there were no dangerous men coming for us. “My money was gone and my marriage was a sham – but at least the kids and I were safe.” Police investigations uncovered a staggering pattern of deceit. Jordan had been engaged to another woman, stealing her salary and using her credit card fraudulently. He had also been previously convicted of sexual offences against a girl under 13 in 1997. “The worst revelation was that he was a convicted sex offender… I felt physically sick,” Mary said. In late 2006, at Oxford Crown Court, Jordan pleaded guilty to fraud, bigamy, possession of a stun gun, and failing to register his address. He was jailed for five years. Judge Thomas Corrie told him: “You are a conman… and a bigamist. You are an inveterate exploiter of vulnerable women, not just financially, but also emotionally.” Outside court, another woman approached Mary to say she too had a child with Jordan. “By now, I’d established that in 2005 he had seven relationships on the go, and 10 kids. I resolved I’d do whatever I could to spread the word about who he really was to protect others.” Jordan was released early in 2009 and deported to the US, where he resumed his cons. In early 2023, he was arrested again for fraud in New York, and in February 2024, sentenced to three years in prison for theft by deception and impersonating a government official. Jordan’s exploits and the trail of destruction left in his wake were turned in three-part documentary miniseries, The Other Mrs Jordan – Catching The Ultimate Conman, which available to stream on ITVX.