A fake admiral has provoked outrage by participating in a Remembrance Sunday commemoration.
Jonathan David Carley donned the ill-fitting uniform of a rear admiral with a row of 12 medals as he saluted the war memorial in Llandudno, North Wales, on Sunday.
The infiltrator, who appears to have participated in several other Remembrance events in recent years, arrived at the occasion unannounced.
The Royal Navy said his behaviour was “insulting” to veterans and “could be considered a criminal offence” under the Uniforms Act 1894, which bars anyone who has not served in the armed forces from wearing military uniform.
Mr Carley raised suspicions with an unlikely combination of decorations that included the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), an MBE and the Gulf War Medal.
He also wore the Queen’s Voluntary Reserves Medal, which is exclusively for military reservists and has never been won by anyone who also has a DSO.
He wore a white shirt with a cutaway collar, which is not permitted by Royal Navy regulations, and oversized sleeves reaching down to his knuckles.
‘It’s disgraceful’
Llandudno town council, which organised the Remembrance service, said Mr Carley was not on its guest list and it when it confronted him, he claimed to be representing the Lord-Lieutenant of Clwyd.
But Harry Fethersonhaugh, the Lord Lieutenant, said this was untrue, telling The Sun: “I have never seen him before in my life.”
It appears that Mr Carley also participated in Remembrance Sunday commemorations in nearby Caernarfon in 2018 and 2019.
Photographs from the events show a man wearing a similar combination of medals with a cutaway collared shirt and a rear admiral’s jacket with sleeves that are too long.
A retired senior Navy officer said: “It’s disgraceful and probably a criminal offence.
“He has no warfare branch badge – surface, submariner or aviator – and it is impossible to imagine someone getting a DSO who was not in a command appointment.
“He also does not have all the jubilee medals that he should have and his cap badge looks dodgy.”
A serving soldier told The Telegraph that Mr Carley’s behaviour was “very disappointing”.
He said: “I never understand why they pretend to be mega-senior officers. Just pretend to be a chef, or something. It just doesn’t make sense.”
In the London Gazette, the official record for military listing, Mr Carley is only named once as a 2nd Lt (on probation) with the combined cadet force of Cheltenham College, where he was a history teacher.
He also claimed to have studied at Christ Church, Oxford, as well as studying a business degree at Harvard University.
A newspaper clipping from 1994 said he was a boat captain at Oxford and also rowed at the top US university.
“As a schoolmaster, he coached at Eton and Cheltenham before coming to Shiplake [College],” the article read.
However, The Walter Mitty Hunters Club, which exposes armed forces impersonators, claimed Mr Carley is not listed as a Harvard alumni on the university’s register.
‘The highest-ranking Walt attempt’
It said: “This might be the highest-ranking Walt attempt ever.”
The term “Walt” is a contraction of Walter Mitty, the fantasist character in James Thurber’s 1939 short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Residents in Mr Carley’s seaside town of Harlech, North Wales, said he bragged to neighbours about the “lies” of his military service.
One person told The Daily Mail: “It’s shocking that he’s tried to pass himself off as an admiral.
“It’s outrageous. He told a few neighbours that he was in the military but it’s all obviously a pack of lies.”
A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: “Impersonating a Naval officer is insulting to anyone connected to the service and could be considered a criminal offence.
“Nothing should detract from the poignancy of Remembrance Sunday, which can be a sombre time for members of the Royal Navy family and an opportunity for people in communities across the United Kingdom to pay their respects to people who have served or are serving their country.”
