Charles Stopford

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Charles Albert Stopford (born c. 1962) 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. It was falsely reported by the British Press that he used the title Earl and Duke.

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 as to 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 and intrigue 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 then legally changed his name to Christopher Buckingham. Before he was caught he married and had two children; he has not contacted them since his prison term.