Bogus mayor fools Stafford with fake Twitter account
A fictitious mayor who took to Twitter to convince local big wigs of his sham status has come unstuck after he insulted the mayor of a neighbouring town who picked up on the deception.
James Billington set up a spoof Twitter @mayorofstafford account proclaiming himself to be the Mayor of Stafford, going so far as to accrue an authentic looking gold chain, ordering ‘I’m the mayor pin badges’ and staging fake publicity shots to dupe unsuspecting social media users.
So convincing were Billington’s efforts that many of the town’s residents, and even some politicians, were duped into recognising the fraudulent mayor before the town’s actual mayor.
Amongst the faux mayor’s unofficial duties were cutting the ribbon at an ‘opening’ of Alton Towers and congratulating locals on attaining significant birthdays whilst bedecked in his sham chain.
Billington came unstuck however when he incurred the wrath of the genuine mayor of the neighbouring town of Shrewsbury, Jon Tandy, prompting a formal complaint. In a scathing tweet Billington wrote: “Sharing a meeting with the mayor of Shrewsbury today. Never liked him. Reminds me of one of the bad guys from Superman 2.”
This came to the attention of Stafford’s real mayor, Angela Loughran, who demanded Twitter suspend the account.
Coun Loughran commented: “Nobody minds a bit of fun on social media. But it is unacceptable that this person is purporting to be the Mayor of Stafford and making disparaging remarks about another Mayor. This is bringing the mayoralty into disrepute.”