Fake lord kept identity from wife and family

A MAN who used a dead baby’s name for 23 years to live the life of a lord and has refused to reveal his true identity even to his own ex-wife and children may be hiding “a dark secret”, a detective said yesterday.

And the ex-wife of the man - who assumed the identity of a nine-month-old boy called Christopher Edward Buckingham who died in 1963 - said she was “disappointed” that her family were still clueless over his real name.

Calling himself “Lord Buckingham”, the man perpetrated a “wholesale identity theft” backed up with false documents and even notepaper headed with a coat of arms not used since the 18th century.