Convicted bigamist helped convince doctors to commit trusting husband No3 to secure hospital as 'mentally ill'

The man who unwittingly entered into a bigamist marriage with fantasist Alisa Knight, reveals how he was committed to a secure mental hospital after she helped convince doctors he was mentally ill.

Mike Hughes, 47, was sectioned and admitted to St Cadoc’s Hospital, Wales, for five days where he was was repeatedly tested for drugs and assessed by a team of specialist doctors.

But the then 39-year-old was not mentally ill and was given a clean bill of health before being permitted to leave with no medication or further action.

Read more: Convicted bigamist Alisa Knight falsely claimed to be a doctor and a nurse

Read more: PSNI investigating fake doctor claims by woman who lied her daughter had died

Mike, 47, a delivery driver said: “It was terrifying. This period of my life was the most frightening I ever experienced. I feel ashamed and embarrassed to this day about it, and how I ended up in there.

“I was locked in a room, I was checked by staff to ensure I was not a danger to myself and I was drug tested and interviewed repeatedly.

“I was in a secure mental hospital trying to convince the staff I wasn’t mad. I feel lucky to have gotten out of there.

“I was taken there by Lisa and I later found out that while I was locked up, she was starting another relationship.”

Mike’s release from the secure mental hospital culminated in the end of the couple’s relationship and instead of going back home to rebuild his life, he moved in with an aunt while Alisa stayed in his rented property.

Unknown to Mike at the time, Alisa already had made contact online with senior care assistant Neil Annis, who knew nothing of her past and would become husband number four.

Last week we revealed how Alisa Knight had been falsely claiming to be a GP, critical care doctor and senior nurse in Northern Ireland, England and Wales.

She falsely claimed also to be an ICU paediatric nurse in Belfast while lying that her own daughter who is alive and well, died 13 years ago after a head on collision with a lorry. And she has used more than 20 aliases and two dates of birth.

Husband number three Mike Hughes was a healthy 38-year-old when he met a 34-year-old woman online who called herself Lisa Evans.

He said: “I knew her as Lisa Evans, a senior nurse who loved cats. She moved into my house and I found the closeness with my friends and family, especially my mum who I was, and still am very close to, started to fall away.

“Lisa dressed every morning in green medical scrubs and wore a red metal badge that said ‘Nurse In Charge’. I didn’t know anything about nursing and had no reason to doubt her. She said she worked as a nurse at St Cadoc’s secure mental hospital outside Newport, Gwent.

“Lisa proposed marriage very quickly and arranged everything, the wedding rings, paperwork and the venue. I was happy to get married to her, I even had a tattoo to mark the date. I still have it - it haunts me. I’d no idea she was already married at the time, I hadn’t a clue.

“On the paperwork she used her surname from her first marriage which had ended in divorce. But she’d married again and remained married.”

The pair married on July 6, and went on honeymoon to Tenerife in early October 2016, before a holiday to Benidorm was cut short by a day for Lisa to attend court on bigamy charges. She was convicted on October 18, 2016 after 104 days of marriage, and sentenced the following month.

Mike said: “She convinced me it was just a paperwork error at the registry office. I was questioned by the judge and allowed to go. She was taken in and came out later and said very little about it, just that it was sorted out. She brushed off any questions I had. I had no idea she’d been convicted.”

The couple got down to married life but in 2018 Mike says his health quickly took a nosedive.

He told Belfast Live: “She’d convinced me she was a nurse which I now know wasn’t true, and she started to tell me she was worried I was depressed and losing my memory.

“I remember life changing then, I started to feel upset, frightened and spaced out, I was exhausted, agitated and anxious and I felt any control I’d ever had was gone. There were times I was so spaced out I could hardly speak, I couldn’t focus and I didn’t care about anything.

“It felt like I was drugged or in a sort of dream. I couldn’t work out what was happening to me and Lisa seemed very concerned, telling my mum I was a mess. I stopped taking phone calls from Mum, I stopped going out, speaking to people, I just wanted to sleep but I couldn’t.

“Lisa said I needed help and we went to a GP... where I was registered. I was numb, I didn’t care. I went along and she did the talking. I’d never been down and or on medication before but I was prescribed a heavy duty antidepressant called Sertraline, and I took 150mg a day.”

But the medication left Mike feeling worse, suffering extreme exhaustion, having trouble sleeping and anxiety.

He said: “Lisa asked me if I’d like to meet some of her friends at her work at St Cadoc’s because they might be able to help me feel better. I was desperate to get my life back and agreed.

“She drove me there in the winter of 2018. Inside the foyer the windows were covered in a screen which meant you could see out but people outside couldn’t see in. Lisa and I sat in a room for some time and a woman came and talked to us.

“Then I was taken away to a room on my own and they took off my hoodie because it had cord in it. I remember I slept on and off for about two days and was given no medication. I was pretty desperate for the Sertraline and kept asking for it but they didn’t give it to me.

“On the third day I woke up with a clear head - and then I was scared. I knew I was locked in a room, I could tell I was in a hospital and I knew I didn’t belong there. Two medical people interviewed me a number of times over several sessions on day three, four and five.”

Fake texts

And while Mike was locked inside the secure ward, a series of text messages was sent by Alisa to her first husband, claiming to be from Mike.

Husband number one said: “The messages said Lisa, as she was known then, had been diagnosed with cancer and was in hospital for surgery. They were signed off by ‘Mike’.

“The texts continued over the period of days to update me, saying she was out of surgery and recovering well. We now know those messages were sent while poor Mike was in hospital with no access to the outside world.

“As the mother of my children I was worried for Lisa, but I needn’t have been. It was all fake, they were from her.”

Mike's family did not know he was locked in a secure ward

Five days after delivery driver Mike Hughes was sectioned and locked in a secure ward of St Cadoc’s Hospital in 2018, he was released.

He explained: “The doctors assured me I was not mentally ill, I was not a danger to myself or others and I was free to go. I was given no medication and they didn’t want to see me again. I was piecing together what I believed had been going on and I felt sick and angry.

“No one in my family knew where I’d been except Lisa. I was too frightened to return home so I went to my auntie’s house. Mum came over right away and I explained what had happened. She was so angry and hurt.

"I said I wasn’t taking any more Sertraline and I know you should come off drugs like this gradually, but I just wanted them out of my system. I wanted my life back. I went cold turkey for about two weeks.

"It was a really awful time but after that I was clear and I’ve never needed any medication since. I don’t need antidepressants and never have.”

Alisa's next move

While Mike was recovering at his aunt’s house, Alisa brought a new boyfriend, Neil Annis, to Mike’s home, claiming to him that the house was hers.

Mike said: “I saw Neil and warned him she was a bigamist. She told him I was mentally ill and not to believe me.

“She eventually left my home and when I went back, my sitting room suite, my fridge freezer and beds were gone. I was left £15,000 in debt on bank and car loans which we’d agreed to pay off together. I’ll finish paying off these debts in March, 2025.

“I am happy to say that eight years on from this experience I am still fit and well, working full time and happily married to the love of my life, Karen, who’s a nurse - a real, student nurse.

“In 2016 my life changed forever when I married Lisa Evans. Today, it’s an incredible feeling to be able to tell people what really happened to me.”

Husband No4 Neil Annis uncovered more fake claims

Alisa met with much respected charity volunteer and senior nursing assistant Neil Annis, from Worcestershire, in March 2018, marrying him in January 2019, and stating her profession as ‘senior kennel assistant’ on the wedding certificate.

Neil, 53, said: “She told me she’d been a nurse and I initially believed her but something made me check her out. I checked her credentials to discover she was not listed anywhere as a qualified nurse.

“She worked in Subway in Monmouth and later said she got a job at BPAS, the The British Pregnancy Advisory Service which provides abortions.

“I stayed with her one weekend and her ex Mike came along and warned me she was a bigamist. I thought he was talking nonsense and she said he was mentally ill. But I found out he was telling the truth later when she got a DBS certificate (Disclosure and Barring Service) which stated her conviction for bigamy and listed her other names she’d used.

“She’d told me she was attending a conference for the abortion service in Ireland but I’ve now had it confirmed she was meeting another man, texting to say her flight home was cancelled - but I checked and it had landed on time.

“Throughout that relationship I became isolated from friends and loved ones, I was left broken emotionally and I felt like a failure and unable to trust. Today having a voice, I feel stronger and I know I’m no longer alone.”

A DBS check needed by BPAS for a job Alisa applied for at the abortion service, revealed five names she had used and stated her last known occupation as ‘Nurse’ despite never having been a registered or student nurse.

A spokesperson for BPAS said: “We can confirm that neither this person, nor any of the aliases provided, was ever employed as a nurse at BPAS. All applicants for nursing roles are checked for relevant qualifications and registration with the NMC. BPAS operates a robust framework of governance around hiring processes in accordance with our obligations as a regulated healthcare provider.”

What has the GMC said?

A spokesperson for the GMC, the general Medical Council, said: “To confirm, I cannot locate a doctor by the name of Alisa Knight or Alisa Hennessy on the medical register.

“The GMC’s regulatory powers, as set out in the Medical Act, only extend to individual doctors who are on the UK medical register.

“It is illegal to falsely use protected titles such as doctor of medicine, general practitioner, and physician. If an individual is giving the impression they hold registration or a licence with us, when they don’t, or there is evidence they are carrying out a privileged activity while unlicensed, then this is a criminal offence in the UK and should be reported to the police.”

What has the NMC said?

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is the UK's independent regulator of more than 808,000 nurses, midwives and nursing associates. When asked about Alisa's credentials, a spokesperson said: “We have searched our records and cannot find an individual currently or previously on the register matching those details you have shared. Our regulatory role in fitness to practise only extends to professionals who are on our register.

“It is of course a criminal offence for a person to say that they’re on the NMC register, when they aren’t, or to use a protected title to which they aren’t entitled such as ‘registered nurse’.

What has the RCN said?

The RCN nurses' trade union also checked their records and a spokesperson said: “The Royal College of Nursing says it is a criminal offence to claim to be a Registered Nurse without the appropriate qualifications or professional registration and we take the abuse of the nursing profession seriously.”

What have bosses of St Cadoc's secure hospital said?

Belfast Live is awaiting response from the Aneurin Bevan Board, responsible for St Cadoc’s secure mental hospital in Wales, where Alisa Knight claimed she worked as a nurse and where her husband was committed.

What have the police said?

"We are making enquiries into alleged offences."

What has Alisa said?

Belfast Live approached six-times bride Alisa Knight on June 1, 2024, questioned her in person and presented her with a seven-page document of questions and statements. She was given 10 days to respond. In an email, she said: "These accusations are untrue."

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