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A widow of 27 years has discovered that she is officially married to a ghost.

And now she's been told she must divorce that ghost to remarry!

Investigative work by editor Graham Smith uncovered the disturbing and harrowing story of Sheila Doone.

Her husband John was lost at sea when the Hull-based trawler The Gaul went down with all hands off the North Cape amid rumours that she had been spying on the Russian fleet.

Not a trace of any of the 36 crew has ever been found, but one alleged sighting of John Doone, the radio operator, in South Africa in 1978, has tortured Sheila's life ever since and now seems to be the mysterious reason why she cannot marry her new love Ernest.

Other widows of Gaul crew members have married without problem but Sheila was told that the only way she could do so was to divorce John Doone.

Graham's work found that no death certificates have ever been issued for the crew members.

He said: "Last year she and Ernest, a quiet unassuming man who prefers to remain almost anonymous, went to Burnley Register office.

"They planned to marry and seal the relationship which began 10 years previously when they met on their way to a dance.

"An official enquiry ruled that The Gaul sank in heavy seas but now after the discovery of the wreck, and haunting doubts over her role as a "spyship", a further enquiry as to why she sank and was never found has been ordered by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, himself a Hull MP.

"Two approaches to Mr Prescott pleading for his help in resolving Sheila's situation have proved fruitless.

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