KENT Police are in contact with Interpol and the United States authorities in following up a new lead in the case of a man who was arrested at Dover with a false identity.

The man, who called himself Christopher Buckingham and used the title Lord Buckingham, was arrested at the port in 2005 and jailed for 21 months in November after he had admitted making an untrue statement to obtain a passport.

His sentence was reduced on appeal to nine months and he was released in February into the custody of the UK Immigration Service.

There are now reports that he may be Charles Albert Stopford, a former member of the United States Navy intelligence service who disappeared from his home in Florida in 1983 when he was 21.

A man claiming to be Christopher Buckingham - having taken the identity of a baby who died in 1963 - appeared in 1984 and met a woman in Germany.

They moved to England, married and had two children before divorcing in 1997.

Kent Police have described the discovery of the missing American’s details as "a promising development".

"But until we have obtained firm evidence of Christopher Buckingham’s true identity it would be wrong to leap to any conclusions," said a spokesman.

"We are in contact with Interpol and the United States authorities and is working to obtain fingerprint and DNA checks.

"An officer is also liaising with family members who say they recognise their relative from photographs that were released to the media by Kent Police."