Fake Liverpool fireman almost triggered largest post-war emergency

Nov 17 2007

A FAKE fireman drove 200 miles from his Liverpool home to dress up as senior firefighter in flood-ravaged Gloucestershire, a court heard today.

Peter Jennings, 49, endangered the lives of 150,000 when he started diverting fire engines away from the battle to save a power station from flooding.

Jennings, who had failed in an attempt to become a Merseyside firefighter last year, had turned up in flood-hit Tewkesbury, Glos, dressed as a senior firefighter and started calling fire engines into the area, magistrates in Stroud were told.

Three fire engines were ordered to Tewkesbury by Jennings over the course of one afternoon and he instructed their crews to pump water from the street outside the town's Canterbury pub.

His actions diverted the crews away from the vital work of protecting the Walham power station near Gloucester from being inundated by floodwater - a situation would have plunged the county into darkness and chaos, the court heard.

Jennings who was haunted by his failure to become a real fireman, was conitionally discharged for three years and ordered to pay £100 costs.

The court heard he had driven 200 miles from his home in Liverpool to the stricken area to take part in the massive flood fighting operation.

David Nicholas, prosecuting, said "Mr Jennings had diverted rescources at the exact time they were needed to stop the sub-station flooding.

"If Walham had gone down 150,000 people would have been without power, and there would have been an emergency in the UK not seen since war-time. It is inevitable that old people would have died without any heating."

Jennings was caught after some of his former volunteer colleagues at the Fire serice museum, in Crosby Road North, Liverpool saw him strutting around on television being hailed as a local hero.

He had been kicked out of the museum in 2006 after several earlier incidences of posing as a fire man.

Jennings, who went by seven aliases, including Peter Elvis Aaron Presley, asked to join the Liverpool fire service museum in 2006 telling curators he was a retired station officer from the Bristol and Avon region.

It was there that he was able to steal much of the equipment that helped hiim pull off his disguise, the Magistrates heard.

He also bought a lot of fire service uniform regalia on eBay.

"It was a bit of an obsession. He was a kleptomaniac as far as fire-service equipment was concerned," Mr Nicholas said.

"He was asked to leave the museum eventually following several reports from real fire officers that he was being seen at fire scenes. On one occasion he was caught connecting a hose-pipe.

"Scanning equipment was also found at his home, which explains how he was able to get the scenes of these fires at the same time as the professionals."

On July 24 at the height of the flood crisis in Gloucestershire Jennings, of Alvina Close Kirldale, Liverpool turned up in a old Fiesta that he had souped-up to look like a fire chief's car.

"It was kitted out with lights and a make-do system on the passenger seat that activated it," Mr Nicholas said. "Anyone who was not 100 percent in the know would have assumed it was a genuine fire service vehicle."

Jennings, unemployed and single, took charge of the scene in a uniform which denoted he was of a rank equivalent to a police Chief Inspector.

He directed boats ferrying people around and ordered three engines to begin pumping water from the road.

That diverted them from the touch-and-go effort to stop the water flooding the Walham sub-station, known as the battle of Walham, Mr Nicholas said.

"The press have branded him Fireman Sham - but this was no sham. It went to the very heart of what the emergency services were trying to do. His actions could have seriously incapacitated the county."

The charges Jennings admitted were brought under the Emergency Workers Obstruction Act 2006.

He pleaded guilty to a charge that on July 24, he obstructed or hindered Mark Craddock - a fire and rescue service officer - by ordering a pump to be delivered to a location near the Canterbury Inn, Ashchurch Road, Tewkesbury.

Jennings also pleaded guilty to stealing between April 30, 2004 and September 2, 2006 various items from the fire service museum in Crosby Road North, Liverpool.

Those were two white fireman's helmets and one blue fireman's tunic.

The charge had originally claimed that he stole a firefighters helmet, a Fire and Rescue service fluorescent bib, a Fire Brigade Union flag, a blue tunic, two pairs of trousers and braces, two Merseyside Brigade name badges, medal ribbons, a pocket book and a cover and rank insignia of a value unknown belonging to the museum.

He had earlier denied that charge but changed his plea to guilty today after the items listed in it were reduced.

Lloyd Jenkins ,defending, said: "His intentions were good, honest and noble. He was just trying to help out. He couldn't bear to sit at home in Merseyside and do nothing while the people of Gloucestershire were suffering.

"His life's ambition was to be a firefighter but his efforts were in vain because he has a spinal injury. He suffers from depression and is taking medication.

"He had a fixation with the fire service but now recognises that that cannot continue. He has destroyed all his memorobilia."

Chair of the bench at Stroud Magistrates' Court, Cecilia Hargrave, ordered Jennings to pay £100 costs, as well as imposing the three year conditional discharge.