Fantasist who called himself ‘doctor’ and ‘Lord’ jailed for fraud

A serial fantasist who falsely claimed to be a doctor and a Lord has been jailed for fraud, theft and acting as a company director while disqualified.

Darren Anderson’s string of offences across 2022 and 2023 caused losses of more than £200,000 to other businesses and individuals through unauthorised direct debit payments, unpaid invoices and rent arrears.

The 43-year-old, who went by names such as Lord Timothy Ahlbeck and the 18th Duke of Ahlbeck, was also director of five companies while banned which he claimed traded as everything from travel agencies to estate agents and hairdressers.

Anderson, of Bassingfield Lane, Gamston, Nottingham, was jailed for four years at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday 23 September.

He was also disqualified as a company director again for 15 years.

The sentence included one count of theft in separate proceedings brought by Derbyshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as the activation of a suspended sentence imposed in 2021.

The Insolvency Service is also seeking to confiscate the funds Anderson fraudulently obtained under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Anderson’s criminality was enabled using several aliases over the last 15 years. The court also heard he had seven previous convictions for 41 dishonesty offences since 2002, highlighting a long-standing pattern of fraud and deception.

He was jailed for fraud and banned as a company director for the maximum period of 15 years in 2011 under the name Miles Prestland-Windsor.