Anonymous Man sent to prison.

[Famine]

(I was going to put "gaol", but in the interests of multiculturalness, chose a less oblique word)


Anyway...

A man who assumed a dead baby's identity was yesterday jailed for 21 months. This is odd enough, but he refuses to reveal his true identity - to the point that no only do the police and courts not know who he really is, but neither do his ex-wife or either of his two children!

The baby - Christopher Edward Buckingham - died in 1963. The man, who assumed the name of "Christopher Edward Buckingham" married in 1984, divorced in 1997 and has two children - aged 17 and 19 - who have inherited the Buckingham surname without any idea what their real lineage is.


Amusingly, assuming a false identity isn't actually a crime in the UK. The man was imprisoned for fraudulently applying for a passport...

Yahoo! News article.

 

[Lee]

Hah wow so in theory I could change my name to whatever I want.

 

[Famine]

Yep - though unless done officially you'd face prosecution every time you tried to open a bank account or credit card, or get a driving licence...

This guy assumed the baby's entire identity - name, date and place of birth...

 

[daan]

Yep - though unless done officially you'd face prosecution every time you tried to open a bank account or credit card, or get a driving licence...

You can call yourself whatever you like but it's not legally recognised unless you get a dead polish guy to change it for you.

 

[Lee]

Yep - though unless done officially you'd face prosecution every time you tried to open a bank account or credit card, or get a driving licence...

I see, not really worth the hassle then.

 

[Famine]

^ Scottish gag...

 

[GilesGuthrie]

^ Scottish gag...

2/10.

 

[Famine]

Well, only Scots and people who've heard daan speaking will get it...

 

[Pupik]

Bah, he's not anonymous; he'll be known by #655321 or something like that very shortly.

 

[Danny]

From now on, I'm David Anderson.

 

[Young_Warrior]

I rate this man for keeping stum so long.

 

[Anderton Prime]

I'd be worried about the reason behind his assumption of the false identity. What kind of person lies to his own family about who he is, other than the type with something dreadful to hide? If I were his wife, I'd leave him unless he came clean, but even then I wouldn't be able to trust that the truth was really the truth. Oh what a tangled web we weave...

 

[Vonie]

His name is probably something like Mike Rotch.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

From now on, I'm David Anderson.

Hey David!

 

[Danny]

Hello, Jack.

But if you check the Conversation thread, my even newer name is "Mexicomeat" because it rhymes with my username, like yours does.

 

[unsanctified]

In order to get a drivers license, don't you need to show a birth certificate or something? He'd need that wouldn't he?

 

[standard235]

Aha. And I'm Eric Eberle.

 

[Omnis]

His name is probably something like Mike Rotch.

Ha. That got a laugh out of me.

Police say the man once claimed parentage from Germany, while his ex-wife said she thought he might have talked in an Israeli or South African accent.

He might have a lineage of infidels....

 

[Flame-returns]

I'd be worried about the reason behind his assumption of the false identity. What kind of person lies to his own family about who he is, other than the type with something dreadful to hide? If I were his wife, I'd leave him unless he came clean, but even then I wouldn't be able to trust that the truth was really the truth. Oh what a tangled web we weave...

If he was a hardened criminal trying to stay out of the public eye he would have chosen a more suitable identity rather than passing himself off as the lord of Buckingham.