Jamie Lomas is single again.

Jamie Lomas

Jamie Lomas

The 44-year-old actor split from his girlfriend Portia Hughes - who is 18 years younger than him - earlier this year after going public with their relationship last summer.

A source told The Sun Online: "Jamie was completely smitten with Portia and they grew very close, very quickly. He can be quite private but was happy to go to events with her - his friends were even predicting they might get engaged.

"Unfortunately it was all a bit of whirlwind and they just couldn't go the distance. They split amicably and she's already moved on while he's thrown himself into work."

And it didn't take Portia - who works on the set of 'Hollyoaks' - long to move on as she's already found a new boyfriend in property manager Paddy Kennedy.

She proudly flaunted her new man on her Instagram account last month when she shared a photograph of them together and admitted their romance was "unexpected."

Jamie - who played Warren Fox on 'Hollyoaks' until earlier this year - has been trying to take his mind off the break up by throwing himself into work and has been busy filming a feature-length film alongside Amanda Clapham in Southampton.

Jamie was previously married to 'Coronation Street' actress Kym Marsh from 2012 until 2014 and they have eight-year-old daughter Polly together.

The pair also had a son called Archie together but he sadly died just minutes after he was born 18 weeks prematurely in 2009.

Kym, 43, said previously: "It's a wound that will never heal. There will always be an Archie shaped hole in our lives. Losing a child takes you to a very dark place and you go through many different emotions - grief, denial, anger, the feeling of being alone and guilt for not bringing your baby safely into the world.

"It's not something you get over, but you have to come to terms with it, accept what's happened as part of the healing process. Once you've accepted that horrible thing has happened to you, only then can you start to move forward and rebuild your life."

Jamie also has a 13-year-old son called Billy with his ex-girlfriend Haley Lever.