Fake airline captain from Shropshire gave Jabba the Hutt as reference to land job
A former Oswestry man who lied on a job application for the role of an airline pilot by using the name of Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt as a reference, has been spared jail.
Nigel Francis-McGann, formerly of West Felton, Oswestry, began working for West Atlantic UK in March 2017 when he lived Shropshire
Shrewsbury Crown Court was told on Friday that the 54-year-old had applied for a position as a 737 captain at the cargo airline, which flew out of Birmingham Airport, and he was hired for that role and given additional training.
Mr Philip Beardwell prosecuting said Francis-McGann, now of Buckeridge Rd, Salisbury, had previously worked for Fly Dubai flying 737 planes as a first officer, telling the judge: “The best way to describe it is that a captain has four stripes and can be in charge. Three stripes is a junior role.
“Francis-McGann was a three stripes pilot."
He said bosses at the airline became suspicious that Francis-McGann was not fully qualified and after digging deeper, spotted a reference supplied from Fly Dubai under the name of “Desilijic Tiur” that claimed Francis-McGann had been a captain there.
But when the reference was checked, Mr Beardwell said Fly Dubai had never heard of anyone called Desilijic Tiur.
“This was unsurprising, as Desilijic Tiur is the real name of the character Jabba The Hutt from Star Wars,” said Mr Beardwell.
The court heard that Francis-McGann lost his job in 2018 after his deception was uncovered, and despite being caught out, Francis-McGann attempted to take the airline to an employment tribunal in Birmingham in 2018 for breach of contract.
The case was rejected and Francis-McGann was ordered to pay back £4,725 — the cost of his completed training to West Atlantic.
In its judgement, the tribunal said in 2018: “If there had been an incident the consequences for the respondent, and others, could have been catastrophic. Even if no lives were lost, any enquiry would have discovered that the claimant was inadequately trained for the position in which he flew.”
Mr Beardwell said while the fraud was “not sophisticated” he added that Francis-McGann was set to “earn a lot of money by undertaking work he was not qualified to do”.
The court heard that during his time at the airline, as well as the money for the cost of training, Francis-McGann earned more than £20,000 while working for West Atlantic UK.
The court was told that the defendant, who was representing himself, had one previous conviction for perverting the course of justice in 2002.
Francis-McGann, who had pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud at an earlier hearing, told the court that he disputed that he was unqualified for the role at West Atlantic UK as he had been a “pilot in charge” ten years earlier in “wide body jets” but admitted he had supplied a false reference.
Judge Deni Mathews asked why he had committed the offence.
Francis-McGann, who was formerly in the army, said he had been the victim of “racial abuse” from a former colleague, whose personal grudge against him meant he was unable to get a reference from his previous employer.
He also said he “saw the world in a different way”, due to having autism, which was a “fundamental factor in how the offence arose” and denied he was dishonest.
The judge replied: “There is no fraud without dishonesty.”
The judge added: “West Atlantic were seeking to employ individuals with specific experience. Your application indicated you had previously been employed as a captain at Fly Dubai.
“West Atlantic came to learn your previous employment had been as a first officer and not as a pilot.
“You would not have been hired if they knew the true position rather than that which was set out on your CV.
“You had provided a false reference using a pseudonym from a character from Star Wars, which was submitted to support your application.”
The judge continued: “This was a fraud carried out against an airline firm in the aviation industry. People will never be more sensitive that individuals only receive the jobs open to them than in the field of aviation in which such trust is placed on those operating and flying the aircraft.
“Because of the concerns and sensitivity of the aviation industry, this is a case comfortably that is past the custody threshold.”
But he said he took account of Francis-McGann's autism, the time that had passed since the offence occurred and Francis-McGann's personal situation, and said he was willing to suspend the sentence.
He sentenced Francis-McGann to 17 weeks in custody, suspended for 18 months.
He also ordered the defendant to undertake unpaid work but declined to make an order for costs due to the fact Francis McGann was living off benefits.