A FANTASIST was jailed after he falsely claimed to be an Afghan war hero suffering from PTSD to get a lenient sentence.

Naveed Hussain’s lies backfired spectacularly after he started spinning a web of deceit.

It all began when he told a police officer giving him a cannabis warning in 2020 he was called Adam Ali, a PCSO he knew from school.

This ruse was only exposed two years later when Mr Ali, a PCSO with Avon and Somerset Police, applied to join the Gwent force as a constable.

Mr Ali was shocked to hear he had failed the vetting process because of a cannabis warning on his record.

He appealed the decision and Hussain, 25, from Newport was caught when detectives found that the cannabis warning had been filmed on the police officer’s bodycam.

It clearly showed the defendant, prosecutor Peter Donnison told Cardiff Crown Court.

A “stressed” Mr Ali was suspended from duty for 28 days while these enquiries were made.

His application to join Gwent Police as an officer was ultimately unsuccessful for “unrelated reasons”.

Hussain, of Rugby Road, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

He has no previous convictions.

The case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report and it was during his interview with a probation officer that he told them he was a former British Army solider who had served in Afghanistan.

He had enrolled at a military preparation college but a check with the Ministry of Defence revealed he had never been a serviceman. 

Matthew Roberts representing the defendant described his client as a “Walter Mitty” character who had behaved “stupidly and naively”.

Hussain told his barrister he was a manager at the Uskmouth power stations in Newport.

The Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told Hussain: “You stated that you had served four years in the British Army with your service ending in July 2017.

“I don't quite understand why it hadn't been picked up until it came before me that a young man of your age could not have served four years in British Army, with the service ending in July 2017, as you weren’t 19 until the September of that year.

“You also went on to say, and it is set out in the report, that you had done a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

“You said that you had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, that you regularly suffered flashbacks, that your GP had given you medication but you no longer took that medication because your symptoms had lessened.

“And indeed, in assessing your experience of trauma, the probation officer took that into account.”

She added: “It is clear that you caused very significant distress to Mr Ali.

“Indeed, if the officer who stopped you had not switched on his body worn video, Mr Ali could have been sacked, branded a liar and suffered lifelong consequences.”

Hussain was jailed for 12 months.