Leading criminologist David Wilson delves into the world of a fake admiral, a Madeleine McCann imposter and a notorious US rapist

The arrest and subsequent conviction in January 2026 of a 64 year-old man in Llandudno, Wales, following an investigation into a suspected “fake admiral” who appeared at a Remembrance Sunday event; the conviction of a 24 year-old Polish woman called Julia Wandelt for harassment, after her trial at Leicester Crown Court in which she claimed to be Madeleine McCann – having previously declared that she was three other missing girls; and the conviction of Nicholas Alahverdian, also known as Nicholas Rossi and Arthur Knight, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on two counts of rape in Utah in November after a lengthy and very public legal process that saw him extradited from Scotland to the USA in January 2024.

The simple answer to what they have in common is a form of delusional disorder – a type of mental health condition in which the person concerned can’t determine what’s true from what is imagined – but that explanation will only take us so far. For example, there are several types of delusional disorder, such as one which is characterised by an unshakeable belief that somebody is persecuting or attempting to harm them, and another – “erotomanic delusional disorder” – in which the person believes that someone else, often somebody who is famous, is in love with them.

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There can be overlaps between these and the various other delusional disorders........

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