A teenager who conned aviation executives into believing he ran an airline also fooled people into believing that his bogus company had retail, property and modelling divisions, it has emerged.
Adam Barraclough, a 17- year-old from York, ran a web of fabricated businesses using a variety of false names, fake websites and offices in different cities. He secured meetings with the directors of airports and airlines, while arranging modelling shoots and negotiating contracts worth up to £27,000 a month with a property company and a graphic design agency.
Barraclough told people that his business had a turnover of £4.5 billion and owned high-street chains including Next and Topshop, as well as the rights to all the Disney films and hit musicals such as Mamma Mia! and Annie. He also lied his way into the confidence of the biggest child modelling agency in the UK to find girls to feature in advertisements for his imaginary airline.
The extent of Barraclough’s deceptions has emerged since it was revealed his audacious con on the aviation industry last week. The boy, who used the pseudonyms Adam Tait and David Rich, secured a 90-minute meeting with Julian Green, the director of Jersey airport, and was regarded as plausible by other aviation executives.
He was brought up short only when he was stopped by police at Southend airport this month while trying to get access to a 93-seat jet that he had said he wanted to lease. Officers let him go but warned the agents handling the jet that he was using false names.
It has emerged that Barraclough, whose exploits have been compared to those of Frank Abagnale, the conman who posed as an airline pilot as a teenager and was depicted in the film Catch Me If You Can, has frequently attempted to obtain goods and money by deception.
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