Britain's most married man set to spend Christmas with would-be wife number Nine

Britain's most married man is ditching wife number eight this Christmas - to spend it in the Philippines with a girl 40 years his junior.

Randy Ron Sheppard, 67, fell for Filipino call centre worker Cristel Marquez, 27, after secretly chatting her up online.

They first met over ten years ago, when Cristel was just 15 or 16, while Ron was living in Thailand with wife No7 Wan.

Last week we exclusively revealed Ron was given the boot by wife No8 Weng, 37, after she found out he cheated on her with a masseuse on a trip to the Philippines.

Ron, who has eight children, claimed he did not have sex and said he was intent on winning his wife of 11 years back.

But now he has admitted he has set his sights on wife number nine.

Ron has fallen for Cristel after chatting her up online

He has not yet told Weng of his festive plans, despite the fact they still share a house. They are living separate lives in Martock, Somerset.

Ron, who suffers from Parkinson's and claims medication makes him want company, said: "Weng doesn't know anything about this at all. I'm just keeping it quiet from her.

"She thinks that I'm going to marry the massage girl, but I'm not.

"I met Cristel on a website called loveawake.com. We just said, 'Hello'.

"She had put a thing up saying that she was interested so I looked at that and we just started chatting.

"I knew what was going to happen months ago with Weng and me, and I thought, 'I don't like being alone'.

"I think I've decided I will probably move to the Philippines anyway. I find it's better for my Parkinson's with the heat."

Ron and Weng during happier times on their wedding day in 2004 SWNS

Ron said Cristel - who is single with no kids 

- has no problem with his chequered romantic history.

He added: "Cristel knows I've been married eight times but we just sort of fell for each other.

"She's a lovely girl. She comes from a simply family. She's a very nice, caring sort of girl.

"Obviously I sort of tested her to see if she was after money, but she said she has got her own job. I'm going to go over there for three or four months.

"Weng was probably my number one, but as far as I'm concerned now that's all over.