A bogus captain who served as master of ships trading all over the world has been convicted of sailing with forged papers at Lewes Crown Court.

Neville Young, 47, from Aberdeen was caught out by a spot check from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency who discovered he was using a forged photocopy of a Chief mates Certificate of Competence. Subsequent enquiries by Sussex police turned up other forgeries of both British and Liberian CCs.

It was found that Young had worked both as a senior officer and master on ships since 1998. He was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment and fined £500.