Mary Turner Thomson believed she had found her soulmate when she met the charming American who swept her off her feet, only to discover years later that her entire marriage was built on an elaborate web of deception that spanned multiple women and secret families.
The Perfect Man Who Was Too Good To Be True
When Mary met Will Jordan online in 2000, he presented himself as an intelligent, caring partner who seemed perfect for her and her one-year-old daughter Robyn. Will claimed to work in high-level cyber security, which explained his frequent travel around the UK.
"He was everything I'd been looking for in a relationship," Mary recalled, emphasising how important it was that any man she dated would be a positive influence in her daughter's life.
However, warning signs soon emerged when Jordan began cancelling plans at the last minute or failing to show up altogether. After he missed a planned trip to London in late December 2000, Mary resolved to end the relationship, only for him to appear on her doorstep at 7am the next morning with a marriage proposal.
The Elaborate CIA Deception Unfolds
In April 2001, Jordan made a shocking confession to Mary, revealing that his cyber security cover story was actually a front for his real work as a CIA agent. He claimed to have been recruited out of university and now travelled to dangerous locations worldwide on secret missions.
"He wasn't asking me for anything, other than my belief," Mary explained, noting that she eventually accepted his extraordinary story. The CIA narrative provided perfect excuses for his frequent absences and last-minute cancellations, as Mary couldn't complain about his work commitments without compromising his safety.
The deception deepened when Mary discovered she was pregnant in June 2001, despite Jordan having claimed infertility due to childhood mumps. He was absent for most of her pregnancy, supposedly on missions in the Middle East, and didn't meet their daughter Eilidh until she was three months old.
The couple married in an Edinburgh registry office in October 2001, with none of Jordan's family present - he claimed they couldn't travel from the US. Mary believed they were beginning a new, more normal chapter when Jordan announced he was leaving the CIA to start an IT business.
The Terrifying Financial Demands Begin
For two years, life seemed relatively ordinary apart from Jordan's frequent absences for IT work around the UK. Then in summer 2004, when Mary became pregnant with their second child, the situation turned frightening.
Jordan claimed that dangerous men from his CIA past were targeting them and demanded money to pay them off. Mary estimates she gave him approximately £198,000 over the next year from selling her flat, her savings, and her salary.
"I was terrified," Mary remembered. "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."
The payments came in regular instalments - £10,000 here, £3,000 there, then another £5,000 - with Jordan maintaining the pressure even when away, warning that their children would be killed if they didn't pay.
The Shocking Truth Emerges
In April 2006, Mary's world collapsed when she answered a phone call from a stranger who asked, "Are you Mrs Jordan? I'm the other Mrs Jordan."
This revelation began the unravelling of Jordan's elaborate deception. The other woman had been married to him for 14 years and had five children with him, plus he had two more children with their nanny. He had told her he was a spy for the Ministry of Defence.
Police investigations uncovered a staggering pattern of deceit. Jordan had been engaged to another woman while married to both Mary and his first wife, stealing her salary and using her credit card fraudulently.
Most disturbingly, authorities revealed Jordan had been previously convicted of sexual offences against a girl under 13 in 1997. "The worst revelation was that he was a convicted sex offender," Mary said. "I felt physically sick."
Justice and Continued Deception
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 with Judge Thomas Corrie describing him as "an inveterate exploiter of vulnerable women, not just financially, but also emotionally."
By this time, Mary had established that in 2005 alone, Jordan maintained seven simultaneous relationships and had fathered ten children with different women.
Jordan was released early in 2009 and deported to the US, where he promptly resumed his criminal activities. In early 2023, he was arrested again for fraud in New York, and in February 2024, he was sentenced to three years in prison for theft by deception and impersonating a government official.
Mary has refused to feel ashamed about what happened, emphasising that she wouldn't have two of her three wonderful children without having met Jordan. His story has been turned into a three-part documentary miniseries, The Other Mrs Jordan - Catching The Ultimate Conman, available to stream on ITVX.
