'Knight decorated for bravery' exposed as footsoldier in call
centre's front line
THE military
record of Captain Sir Alan McIlwraith, KBE, DSO, MC, a decorated war hero,
seemed almost too good to be true: top of his class at Sandhurst, a senior
adviser to Nato by his early 20s and a string of medals from tours in Northern
Ireland, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Friends and acquaintances appeared not to notice that his
uniform was two sizes too big, nor that his scrawny physique did not quite fit
the profile of his entry in Wikipedia, the internet encylopaedia, which
described him as “a hero that the UK and Nato can look to in times of trouble”.
But the deception, which culminated in his posing in full dress uniform at a
charity awards ceremony, was ended yesterday after he was exposed as a fraud who
worked at a call centre.
The nameplate on his desk at the Dell Computer Corporation in Glasgow says
“Sir Alan McIlwraith” but as plain ordinary Mr McIlwraith he answers calls from
customers who need their computers fixing.
Yesterday a receptionist at the call centre, where Mr McIlwraith, 28, often
turns up in his army uniform, said that he was not at work. “There is no comment
on this,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the company said: “Dell is investigating this situation
and does not comment on speculation.”
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Mr McIlwraith had never been in the
Army. A spokeswoman said: “He doesn’t show up on any of our records. He has
never been an officer — he has never even been in the cadets at school. I can
confirm that he is a fraud. May I suggest that you try the space cadet
organisation?”
It is not clear how long he had been posing as a war hero but in his most
brazen deception to date he was invited to an awards ceremony sponsored by the
NCH children’s charity last month. His photograph and that of a female companion
appear in this month’s No. 1, a Scottish celebrity magazine, with the caption
“Lady Shona and Sir Alan McIlwraith”. NCH said that it was investigating how he
had come to be involved with the charity.
Buckingham Palace said that it had no record of an Alan McIlwraith
receiving a knighthood, and the MoD’s Army Gallantry Section said that no Alan
McIlwraith had received a Military Cross.
Perhaps the most damning denial, however, came from his mother, who told
the Glasgow-based Daily Record: “I know he’s not in the Army and never has
been.”
Mr McIlwraith told the newspaper that his knighthood was for “services to
the Crown”, adding: “Prince Charles did the whole sword bit.” Asked why the Army
had no record of him, he said: “I was in the SAS.”
Mr McIlwraith could not be contacted yesterday. Wikipedia said that his
entry had been deleted.
