A career criminal stole his brother’s identity before racking up a total of 10 convictions in his name, a court has heard.
Saulius Semis, 34, was to have been sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month having admitted driving a car without a licence and giving the police fake identification.
However after a dispute over the number of crimes he had previously committed sentence was deferred until yesterday for fingerprinting to be carried out.
This was to determine which crimes on his schedule he actually committed and which should be attributed to his brother.
Addressing the court yesterday fiscal depute Karen Dow said that although Semis was listed as having 14 previous convictions it had since been established that he had only committed four of those.
The other 10 had been committed by his brother, she said, and added that he even served a custodial sentence under Semis’ name.
Semis’ brother, who can not be named for legal reasons, came to the north-east from Lithuania in 2008. Between then and 2012, when Semis moved over, he had acquired an unenviable record of offending – despite not even being in the country.
Last night north-east MSP and former shadow justice minister Lewis Macdonald said that it was concerning that “organised criminals” were able to con major agencies like the Border Agency, the police and the prisons.
He said: “These clearly are people who make a living out of conning the authorities. This could just be the tip of the iceberg.
“If these two guys are up to it to fool the authorities here there maybe others doing exactly the same. The Borders Agency, the police and the prison service should all be more aware of this as they are dealing with these sort of characters. They have all been fooled in this case.”
It is understood the brother used a fake passport when using Semis’ alias.
Semis, of Flat C, 11 Leask Avenue, Peterhead, was stopped while driving in North Esplanade West, Aberdeen, on May 26 last year.
Police officers asked to see his licence and he handed over what looked like a Lithuanian driving licence with his details on it. The court previously heard the officers felt the document was of poor quality and sent it to be analysed. Experts said it was fake.
Sheriff Richard McFarlane said the case had been “riddled in confusion”. He also warned Semis that he hoped he was the person he claimed to be in court.
He deferred sentence further until next month for fresh reports to be carried out.
Last night, a spokes-woman for Police Scotland and the Crown office said they were unable to comment on the situation as the case was still live.