THE true identity of a man who claimed to be an Earl - after "stealing" the name and other details of a dead baby - has been revealed.

Kent Police say they are now satisfied that the man who called himself Christopher Edward Buckingham and used the title Lord Buckingham is in fact an American citizen called Charles Albert Stopford III from Clearwater, Florida.

Fingerprint checks carried out with the United States authorities have confirmed his true identity.

The man was arrested at Dover 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.

Then the family of Charles Stopford, a former member of the United States Navy intelligence service, contacted the authorities to say they thought they recognised him. He disappeared from his home in Florida in 1983 when he was 21 years old.

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.

Det Sergeant Paul Bratton, the officer in the case, said: "This whole inquiry has been distressing - for the mother who’s dead baby boy’s identity he stole, for this man’s former wife and his children who have been left wondering who he really is and indeed for Charles Stopford’s family in America.

"Now his true identity has been confirmed, hopefully this will help them all come to terms with what has happened."

DS Bratton thanked the media for publicising the case so widely.

The UK Immigration Service will now liaise with the American authorities to determine what happens to Stopford.