Britain's most married man, 71, to wed for ninth time to a woman he has never met

Britain's most married man is set to walk down the aisle a ninth time to tie the knot with a woman he has not yet met.

Ron Sheppard, 71, plans to marry Rose Hans, 30, who is 41 years his junior, after a year-long online romance.

The American, who has just finished a nursing course in Ghana, plans to move to the UK for work in February and will wed the dad-of-eight then.

Ron, a retired entertainments manager from Somerton, Somerset, said the age gap isn't a problem.

He told the Sun Online: 

I know Rose is the one. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t met as I can tell we are the perfect match. Age is just numbers and I don’t care she is more than half my age.

She is not only beautiful on the inside but she has that inner beauty. She is deeply in love with me and I am with her. I haven’t told my family yet but they know what I’m like.

Ron first got married as a teenager in 1966.

He was just 19 at the time and has gone on to have seven other unsuccessful marriages - the longest lasting 12 years and the shortest just 10 months.