Charles Stopford
Encyclopedia
Charles Albert Stopford is an impostor who, in 1982, assumed a false identity using a technique described in the book The Day of the Jackal
, involving the birth certificate of a deceased baby (Christopher Edward Buckingham) who would have been approximately the same age as him. Several years later, he began to use the title Lord Buckingham.
He lived in the United Kingdom for 16 years until a passport inconsistency brought him to the attention of the British police in 2005 when he attempted to board a cross-Channel
ferry in Calais, France. He was working as an information technology
security consultant in Switzerland
at the time. He refused to give his real name and was as a result sentenced to 21 months in prison on November 8, 2005 but this was reduced in January, 2006 to 9 months after the UK Court of Appeal found that the original sentencing judge, Ms. Adele Williams, had acted ultra vires
.
Attempts to determine his identity continued with the secret services attempting to investigate whether or not he was an ex-East German spy. His father pointed out to police that he was a former U.S. Navy sailor from Florida, who had disappeared in 1983. He said he was 100% sure from photographs that he was his son, with his son's identity confirmed as Charles Albert Stopford after fingerprint comparisons were taken. His ex-wife and children have expressed hurt at the deception.
After his jail time was finished he was deported to the US, evading the waiting press to secretly meet the entire Stopford family on his arrival in a nearby hotel. He is assumed to have changed his name to Christopher Buckingham. Before he was caught he married and had two children; he has had constant contact and regular visits with them since his prison term.
The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal is a thriller novel by English writer Frederick Forsyth, about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French terrorist group of the early 1960s, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France....
, involving the birth certificate of a deceased baby (Christopher Edward Buckingham) who would have been approximately the same age as him. Several years later, he began to use the title Lord Buckingham.
He lived in the United Kingdom for 16 years until a passport inconsistency brought him to the attention of the British police in 2005 when he attempted to board a cross-Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
ferry in Calais, France. He was working as an information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
security consultant in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
at the time. He refused to give his real name and was as a result sentenced to 21 months in prison on November 8, 2005 but this was reduced in January, 2006 to 9 months after the UK Court of Appeal found that the original sentencing judge, Ms. Adele Williams, had acted ultra vires
Ultra vires
Ultra vires is a Latin phrase meaning literally "beyond the powers", although its standard legal translation and substitute is "beyond power". If an act requires legal authority and it is done with such authority, it is...
.
Attempts to determine his identity continued with the secret services attempting to investigate whether or not he was an ex-East German spy. His father pointed out to police that he was a former U.S. Navy sailor from Florida, who had disappeared in 1983. He said he was 100% sure from photographs that he was his son, with his son's identity confirmed as Charles Albert Stopford after fingerprint comparisons were taken. His ex-wife and children have expressed hurt at the deception.
After his jail time was finished he was deported to the US, evading the waiting press to secretly meet the entire Stopford family on his arrival in a nearby hotel. He is assumed to have changed his name to Christopher Buckingham. Before he was caught he married and had two children; he has had constant contact and regular visits with them since his prison term.
External links
- Lord of the lies: but who is bogus earl? Times online 7 November 2005
- Man who assumed baby's ID jailed BBC News 8 November 2005
- Jailed 'earl' may be a Cold War secret agent Times online 11 November 2005
- US lead over baby name fraudster BBC News 5 May 2006
- British Detain a Nowhere Man Washington Post 6 May 2006
- Baby name fraudster is US citizen BBC News 8 May 2006