A UK court has sentenced a seafarer to nine months jail with a further two years suspended for using forged documents to sail as a senior watch keeping officer. At a hearing at Lewes Crown Court, Neville Young, aged 47 of Aberdeen, was convicted on 4 charges of possessing and using forged qualifications and sailing as a senior officer on a British ship without holding a valid Certificate of Competence.
A spot check by the UK´s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) revealed that Mr Young was obtaining work as First Officer on board a ship trading in the US Gulf using a forged photocopy of a Chief Mates Certificate of Competence. The MCA´s Enforcement Unit sought the co-operation of Sussex Police, and Young was arrested upon his return to the UK in October last year. Mr Young was found to be in possession of forged photocopies of British and Liberian Certificates of Competence. The subsequent investigation by officers from Sussex Police and the MCA revealed a catalogue of occasions since 1998 where Young had obtained work as a senior officer or captain on board ships all over the world by offering forged copies of qualifications to employers. At the time of his arrest Mr Young was not qualified to serve as an officer in any capacity. He had previously held a certificate of service as Second Mate but this had lapsed. It is understood that he has never since taken any professional exams.
Sentencing Neville Young to 9 months imprisonment for each indictment of using a false instrument, and fining him £500 for sailing as an unqualified officer His Honour Judge Brown said: "Forgery is a very serious offence and this act could have put other seafarers lives at risk.