The Other Mrs Jordan – Catching the Ultimate Conman: ITVX documentary release date, and who is William Jordan?

New ITVX documentary series, The Other Mrs Jordan – Catching the Ultimate Conman, follows the life of a bigamist and con artist who made hundreds of thousands of pounds from his unsuspecting partners.

William Allen Jordan has gone by a few names over his life, and served several spells behind bars for his crimes. Despite being unmasked as a con artist on more than one occasion, he has been able to return to his life of crime, leaving a trail of devastated victims in his wake.

Jordan has been the feature of several documentaries in the past, but the new ITVX series hears from those who were closest to him and the people who helped bring him to justice.

This is everything you need to know about The Other Mrs Jordan – Catching the Ultimate Conman:

Is The Other Mrs Jordan based on a book?

Yes, the documentary series is based on the 2007 book, The Other Mrs Jordan: A True Story of Bigamy and Betrayal, by Mary Thomson, Will Jordan’s victim.

The book explains how her life was blown apart one morning when she received a phone call from a woman claiming to be ‘the other Mrs Jordan’ and was married to Mary’s husband.

However, the documentary is likely to go beyond the scope of the book, as Thomson was not Jordan’s last victim.

What is The Other Mrs Jordan about?

The three part ITVX series explores the life of career con artist, sex offender, and bigamist William Allen Jordan, and his victims.

Mary Turner Thomson believed her husband and father of her two children, William Allen Jordan, was a loving family man who was often away for long stretches due to his job as a CIA agent.

But after six years with Allen she learned that he had another wife and five children and his tales about life in the CIA were all a fabrication and merely cover for his secret family.

After being jailed and later deported for his crimes, Jordan continued to amass more victims in Mexico and the United States, until he was finally brought to justice again when another of his victims turned the tables on him.

Jordan met Mischele Lewis, a registered nurse and single mother, in 2013 and fed her a tale about working for the Ministry of Defence in the UK before returning to the US to reconnect with his family. He also used a fake name, going by Guillaume. 

When Mischele learned of Jordan’s true identity she read Thomson’s book and realised the extent of her partner’s lies. She was eventually able to secure Allen’s arrest.

Another figure who features in the documentary is retired US Marshall Tex Lindsey, who led a manhunt to track Jordan down.

What happened to William Allen Jordan?

Jordan was arrested in 2006 and pleaded guilty to bigamy, obtaining funds by deception, failing to register as a sex offender and possession of a stun gun - he served two and half years and was later deported to the US.

In America, Jordan continued to con victims and he was arrested again in 2014 in a sting operation. He was charged with sexual assault, theft by deception, and impersonating law enforcement and was jailed for three years.

Jordan is believed to have 13 children with eight different women, and to have conned around £300,000 from 21 women. Since 2019 his whereabouts has been unknown.

When is The Other Mrs Jordan on ITVX?

All three episodes of The Other Mrs Jordan are available to stream on ITVX now. They will air on ITV1 at a later date.