Routine check caught man behind £1m fake identity scheme

A man behind a £1m fake identity scheme who went on the run for more than a decade has been jailed for four years.

Craig Milligan, 47, went missing in 2010 when facing an indecent images accusation and while also awaiting sentence for a fraud conviction.

He went on to avoid the authorities by living under the names of two dead men but was finally caught in late 2024 following a routine driver check by police in Dumfries where he had set up home.

Milligan has now been jailed after he pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to a charge of being involved in a fraudulent scheme as well as three other offences under the Identity Documents Act.

The court heard how officers searching his Dumfries home uncovered a sophisticated set up to make false IDs including scanners, printers, ultraviolet lights and holograms.

It sparked an investigation which led to police finding Milligan had illegally opened seven bank accounts and six credit cards using the aliases.

Cash that flooded in over the years included nearly £300,000 in cryptocurrency payments - as well as £6,000 from eBay.

Judge Lady Drummond told him: "You recognise yourself that your fraud has caused harm.

"It is likely to have impacted on the people whose identities have been stolen and their families to learn of this.

"Once these documents were sold, you had no clue how they might have been used."

She said the sentence she imposed was imposed for the protection of the public and to punish him for his crimes.

The court was earlier told how Milligan - a Canadian and British national - arrived in the UK after the death of his then fiancée,

He had been due to be sentenced for bogus job fraud at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in August 2010.

He did not then turn up in court to face these accusations or learn his fate for the fraud charge and went on to live under false identities.

It was not until he was stopped by police in Dumfries in 2024 and told them his name was Daniel Pindell that the net began to close.

Prosecutor Kirsten Cockburn said: "Police began a proactive inquiry and suspicions were raised that the details provided by him were false.

"It was discovered that the identity given appeared to be the same as an American national who died in Florida in 2009."

Another name he used - Thomas Warren - was the same as a man who died in Texas in 2010.

It emerged bank accounts with "large sums of money" had illegally been opened under the identities of the dead men.

A raid on his home subsequently found a hoard of equipment for making false identity documents and even more fake documents in the names of eight other individuals.

A financial probe revealed there were total "credits" in all the bank accounts of more than a million pounds.

Prosecutors said all his "banking facilities" had been "obtained by fraud".

Kevin Henry, defending, told the court that his client's current partner was unaware of his real name and background until his arrest.

The advocate earlier stated that for the 2010 matter, his client had poor mental health at the thought of going to prison in a strange country.

Mr Henry added: "He said that this was reckless and has led to a period of prison that would be in excess of anything that would have been imposed in 2010.

"He has asked me to convey his regret and sorrow for his actions."

Police Scotland said its investigations had shown Milligan had been running a website selling false ID documents for more than a decade.

Det Con Allan Wells said: "This investigation was complex given the scale of the fraud.

"Our team, alongside specialist financial investigators and partner agencies, discovered the names he'd been using were of men who had passed away.

"Then following in-depth analysis we were able to gather enough intelligence to carry out a proactive warrant, uncovering the truth behind Milligan's operation."