To feel sorry for the fake admiral

[MajesticWhine]

It seems to be a victimless crime and I don’t think he was doing anyone any harm. Given the amount of crimes such as shoplifting that go unpunished AIBU to think this man should be let off with a caution?

‘Fake admiral’ charged after Remembrance memorial
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/4d56e1d99d56fda6

He is clearly mentally ill. I assume his sentence will reflect that.

But King Charles, Andrew MW, Prince William and Prince Harry did all serve. That is the difference.

I was cross. My GGF fought in the first world war, it left him deaf and with PTSD and he was one of the lucky ones. My GF was in a protected occupation and he survived tactical bombing of his city.

Some grifter rocking up just make a mockery of those that died and those from more current wars that are still living.

News articles today suggest he has done this before - but not been caught out. I doubt he will get a custodial sentence. I hope the uniform and medals are all confiscated and anything genuine sold to raise money for a veteran’s charity to ensure he can’t do it again. I think the level of publicity and the humiliation that will cause will feel like a punishment in itself. Am sure many in his social circle will distance themselves. I wonder what his family thinks……

Nick Adderley former Chief Constable of Northamptonshire. He is facing fraud charges.

He was one of the police chiefs who wanted to police people's shopping during covid lockdowns.

The current acting chief constable is now possibly facing a personal fine or gaol time for a contempt of court case which started during the former chief constable's tenure.

Walt-ism may seem merely insulting at remembrance day parades. But can be part of a pattern of arrogant behaviour which they get away with because no one wants to question their service.

Nobody sees Princess Anne on tv in a plumed hat and thinks “oh, there is my new girlfriend. She definitely is a high up military figure so it’s fine to send my life savings to get those diamonds she inherited through customs in Qatar”. Whereas there is a strong history of men who pass themselves of as military/police/pilots etc being involved in wider fraud and romance scams.
Princess Anne’s banging hat was part of her official uniform as bodyguard to the King at the coronation. I think it’s rather sweet he had his sister and many, many, others will think it’s ridiculous but she wasn’t “dressed up” as something she wasn’t irregardless of the daftness or not of the hat. She was “dressed up” as something she was - She was her brothers bodyguard that day - the fake admiral is not an admiral in any sense - he’s a history teacher from Harlech and I’d put money on him being involved in fraud. You can’t have people going around wearing official uniforms that don’t have anything to do with them - how about we decide that paramedics and police officers are fair game? Nestle salespeople used to dress as nurses to convince new mothers to stop breastfeeding and use formula - it’s not ok. I saw a documentary only a few years ago about a private hospital that specialised in weight loss surgery - the sales people and reception staff were wearing slightly dated nurses uniforms (the ones with the belts that real nurses haven’t been allowed for years) - it wasn’t for fun - we know that people “trust” a uniform.

It's not exactly the same, because it wasn't military, but there was a woman in the States who pretended to be at the twin towers when they were struck by the plane.

She publicly spoke about it, claimed to have been the fiancé of a man working in the other tower to the one she'd supposedly been in. She was involved in survivor's support groups and was very vocal about some of the poor treatment the survivors got.

In the end, she was exposed, but wasn't charged because no evidence could be found that she did it for any sort of financial gain, or to cause injury. In fact, she had done a lot in terms of survivor support.

It was quite a fascinating story.

Agree with this 👆

Who does?

she came out of a special fanny this is my absolute quote of the week 😝

These 'valour thieves' or whatever people call them are nearly always men. Infact I don't know of any women, but I'm sure someone will come along with an example.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gggr7ype6o

I can’t read the article, as it’s paywalled. He’s obviously a bit of a twat, but I don’t think he’s committed a crime (unless there’s more to it). Plenty of people wear medals that they didn’t earn to remembrance parades. There’s even a bit on the British Legion website advising civilians how to wear other people’s medals correctly.

Stolen valour

He is an imposter wearing government issued clothing. It's like wearing a genuine police outfit in public. That is also an arrestable offence under the same act. It's an insult to all those who served, especially those who died in the war.

Not read the full thread so someone else might have mentioned the woman - Tania Head - who claimed to have been inside one of the towers on 9/11. She claimed her fiance died in the towers. She became a victim advocate and led tours around the memorial site, and claimed to have interacted with real victims before they died, even meeting their families. Turned out she wasn't even in the US on the day.

Not victimless at all. Absolutely despicable attention seeking deception. Disclaimer: I'm a forces brat. That uniform didn't fit, the medals that he hadn't earned looked like they were from ebay and were displayed wrong, throw the book at him.

I think this retired teacher must have mental health issues.
I can't see any other reason for dressing up as an Admiral - it's pure delusion.

But then again so many men like cos-playing these days...

Thats the point... there's a correct way to wear inherited medals. He wasn't... he was deliberately impersonating a rank he wasn't entitled wearing medals he wasn't entitled to in a way that was implying he did.

You wear inherited medals on the the opposite side.

It may appear harmless and over the top but as others have said it’s no different to putting on a police uniform to walk the streets or a surgeons gown and attempting to step into a theatre to perform an op as ridiculous as it sounds.

I read about this too. I thought it was morally wrong. But a criminal offence??Hmm not sure.

He's appears have commited an offence under some rather dated act with regard to wearing uniforms.

As for wearing somebody elses medals at event such as Remembrance Day parades; Yes family can, but they should be worn on the right breast - to signify they are not medals the wearer has earned themselves.

Stick them on the left, such as the false Admiral did, and the wearer is indicating they have earned them.

I think the reaction against him is overkill. He quite possibly has a MH condition or issues to have done something like this. And even if he hasn't - well, 'stolen valour' isn't a crime in this country, we're not in the US! What he's done is dishonest but - can't people just shrug and say, oh well, that's a bit pathetic, moving on....? It doesn't take anything away from genuine servicemen and women, how on earth could it? We KNOW he was a fraud, he was doing a bit of cosplay but a media pile-on is a real overreaction. It might even lead to him harming himself.

I agree - there are many murderers who don't get outed as much as he has been...social media has much to answer for.

I'm in agreement with him being arrested - he has committed a crime of wearing an official uniform, and rightly should be charged.

As well as 'stolen valour' there's usually a strong element of 'perceived glamour' in how these people present themselves. Elite regiments, high ranks, gallantry medals, often a combination of these. They don't seem to grasp that such regiments are very small worlds and medal and service records can be checked.

While undoubtedly some of them will be doing this purely because of MH issues, I think a lot more are just fraudsters. The point is noone should be wearing a uniform or medals to which they are not entitled and that's not a difficult concept to grasp.

Agreed.