A ‘Walter Mitty’ drug user who gave a false name and faked a military career in an attempt to avoid jail time has been finally been put behind bars after a judge rumbled his ruse.
Naveed Hussain, 25, started his elaborate lie in 2020 after he was arrested for cannabis possession.
The fantasist claimed he was called Adam Ali, someone Hussain knew in school who was a PCSO, and he received just a cannabis warning from the police.
His deception was only exposed two years later when Mr Ali, who was serving as a PCSO with Somerset and Avon Police, applied to join Gwent Police as a constable.
When he failed the vetting process because of a cannabis warning on his record, Mr Ali launched an appeal. Hussain was then caught when police officer body cam footage was uncovered.
The South Wales Argus reported that the prosecutor, Peter Donnison, told Cardiff Crown Court that the video clearly showed Hussain.
After pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice, Hussain’s web of lies only became more dramatic.
Following a pre-sentence report, he told a probation officer he was a former British Army soldier who had served in Afghanistan who was suffering from PTSD in order to receive a more lenient sentence.
It was then uncovered that while he had enrolled at a military preparation college, a check with the Ministry of Defence revealed he had never been a serviceman.
Matthew Roberts representing the defendant described his client as a ‘Walter Mitty’ – the mild-mannered fictional character who lives a vivid fantasy life. Mr Roberts went on to say Hussain had behaved ‘stupidly and naively’.
The Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told Hussain: ‘You stated that you had served four years in the British Army with your service ending in July 2017.
‘I don’t quite understand why it hadn’t been picked up until it came before me that a young man of your age could not have served four years in British Army, with the service ending in July 2017, as you weren’t 19 until the September of that year.
‘You also went on to say, and it is set out in the report, that you had done a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
‘You said that you had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, that you regularly suffered flashbacks, that your GP had given you medication but you no longer took that medication because your symptoms had lessened.
‘And indeed, in assessing your experience of trauma, the probation officer took that into account.’
She continued: ‘It is clear that you caused very significant distress to Mr Ali.
‘Indeed, if the officer who stopped you had not switched on his body worn video, Mr Ali could have been sacked, branded a liar and suffered lifelong consequences.’
Hussain was jailed for 12 months after admitting conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Meanwhile, Mr Ali’s application to join Gwent Police was unsuccessful for unrelated reasons.