Councillor who faked serving in the Falklands War & being shot 21 times by the IRA is exposed as fantasist
A COUNCILLOR who bragged he was a Para who fought in the Falklands War has admitted his military record was a sham.
Josh King, 62, also claimed he was shot 21 times in an IRA attack that killed seven comrades in 1980s Belfast.
Wheelchair-bound Mr King’s lies were so convincing that he was asked to lay a wreath at a parade marking the 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict last month in Wroughton, Wiltshire.
The dad of seven, who sat on the parish council as chair of the open spaces committee, wore the maroon Para beret and medals.
But he was exposed as a fantasist by the Walter Mitty Hunters Club — a group of veterans who track down military imposters.
King has since resigned from the council.
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In a Facebook post, he admitted: “My cousin was the one who served, I never got to do that.
“I used his life as my own, maybe out of jealousy or anger to what happened to me. He left me his medals.
“The lies got bigger along with the stories.”
He apologised to those who served and said a car accident had left him in a wheelchair.