Police vow to resolve man's identity nightmare

The nightmare continues for Shane Pritchard even though police have made a commitment to sort out his double identity problems.

The Mosgiel man, the victim of identity theft for the past 18 years, has been told he faces more fines which he knows nothing about.

Mr Pritchard, 34, was born 23 days after another Shane William Pritchard was born in Milton.

Since 1987, his namesake has been using his identity, leading to the Mosgiel man being accused of burglaries, having his bank account cleared and now fearing the loss of his driving licence.

He went public with his plight last week but when contacted yesterday he had just heard from the Department of Courts in Auckland.

"They said there are more fines against my name with my birth date which I know nothing about," he said.

Mr Pritchard also fears he may be a disqualified driver.

"Now I've also heard this guy has appeared in court and lost his licence so does that mean I'm going to lose my licence?"

Records at Porirua District Court showed a Shane William Pritchard appeared on May 20 and was fined $700, court costs $130 and disqualified for driving for six months.

He appeared on a drink driving charge and his birth date was recorded correctly as January 8, 1971 on the charge sheet.

But Mr Pritchard, of Mosgiel, said that gave him little assurance.

Police southern district commander Superintendent George Fraser contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday and said he had organised a meeting with Mr Pritchard for today.

"We hope once and for all to sort out these identity issues so he can go and lead a normal life not at the disposition of someone else."

He said the police were fully committed to sorting out the problem.

- nzpa