Albanian seeking safety in Inverness jailed for faking his identity
An Albanian who feared for his life fled to the Highlands and created a new identity by having forged documents created under the name of an Italian who didn't exist.
Klodjan Hoxhaj even appeared in court under his assumed name of Luca Di Felice when his car was stopped in the Inverness's Culduthel Road on June 4, this year.
But Inverness Sheriff Court was told that officers immediately became suspicious when he showed them his Italian ID card which they thought did not look real.
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He was taken into custody but refused to give his fingerprints or DNA to police and prosecutors decided to seek a court order to force him to provide them, fiscal depute Susan Love told Sheriff Sara Matheson.
She said it wasn't until June 23 that Hoxhaj, who was remanded in custody on June 6 until further enquiries were made to establish his true identity, confirmed who he really was.
Subsequent investigations revealed that not only did Hoxhaj have a false ID card, he also had a counterfeit driving licence in the name of Di Felice.
The 38-year-old appeared from custody represented by solicitor David Patterson and with an Albanian interpreter at his side in the dock.
He confirmed he was admitting possessing the fake documents.
Mr Patterson explained: "He has been resident in the UK for two years.
“He is an Albanian citizen and an application had been made seeking asylum here.
"He has family members in this country. He had significant problems in Albania having got involved with the wrong crowd and there were threats to his life there and in London.
"He decided to come to Inverness to create some distance for himself and the threats and as he speaks Italian, got fake documents."
Mr Patterson asked the sheriff to deal with his client immediately rather than seek a background report, saying that when he is released from prison, he would be returned to Albania.
She agreed and jailed Hoxhaj for 14 months, backdated to June 6.
