Mark Izzard lied to partner Tracey for 15 years that he'd fought for his country in Iraq and had his knee obliterated in battle

A doting wife went to her grave believing her 'veteran' husband was a British war hero - only for her children to later discover he was nothing more than a fantasist lorry driver.

Mark Izzard lied to partner Tracey for 15 years that he'd fought for his country in Iraq and had his knee obliterated in battle.

To perpetuate the lie he posed for 'official' photographs in a fancy dress beret while gripping a BB gun - and even sent himself letters through the post confirming his discharge from the SAS, which he asked his wife to open, as he manufactured an entirely fictional past for almost two decades.

She fell for every word he said, and died of cancer three years ago content she'd spent the best years of her life married to a decorated military hero.

But it was all a lie. The most gruelling battles her 'ex-soldier' husband had ever fought in were on Britain's roads while working as a delivery driver.

Izzard's stepson Danny, 22, from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, said: 'He said to me he was in the First Gulf War.

'He said he had been blindfolded and put in the back of a lorry and taken out into the back of a forest and chucked out and broke his legs and to survive had to crawl back to civilisation.

'He said that at one point he was a sniper and there was a terrorist that had taken hold of an aeroplane and there was a hostage situation. He said he was overseeing it through his sniper but didn't have to shoot anyone.

'I always believed what I was being told growing up with it you just believe it.

'I felt sorry for mum. Basically, their whole relationship was a lie.'

The 44-year-old currently drives for Jewson tool hire and has absolutely no military background.

Despite that, Izzard - of Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire - told family and friends he was a medal earning SAS veteran who'd been tortured and blown up.

He'd regale his wife and stepchildren with stories of his war-time heroics, explaining how he'd lost good friends in the field of battle.

Izzard's wife Tracey (pictured together) fell for every word he said, and died of cancer three years ago content she'd spent the best years of her life married to a decorated military hero

The phony even continued the lie online, posting photographs of troops and pretending they were pictures of him firing a mortar in Bosnia and parachuting over Hankley Common, in Surrey - a photograph that actually showed a Para named Lee Crichton jumping from a plane.

Another of his Facebook pictures said he was in a high altitude low opening (HALO) skydive school in 1988 despite a poster hanging in the background for Monsters, Inc. - which was released in 2001.

Izzard's stepdaughter Jemma Gyoury, 21, an accounts administrator at a cake supplier, said: 'There were medals on display and Army memorabilia in the house.

'If anything went wrong she would say it's because he has been in the Army and blame it on that.

'She [Mrs Izzard] would excuse things and say, "He's been through a lot".

'He said he was in the SAS and claimed he had been shot in the knee cap and his knee exploded and he had a metal knee.

The phony continued his lie online, posting photographs of troops that he pretended were him - including one of a Para named Lee Crichton jumping from a plane - with the caption: 'Me flying on first HALO jump'

Izzard claimed this was a photograph of him 'looking fed up in Kuwait'

'And he claimed a scar on his head was where a bullet scathed him..

'He would say he has seen his mates blown up - horrible things. And he claimed he had been tortured.'

Commercial administrator Mrs Izzard died in North Middlesex Hospital, in Enfield, north London, in 2012 aged 39 just a month after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The siblings grew suspicious of their step-dad when they were sorting out their deceased mother's estate in January and discovered a letter addressed to 'Corporal Izzard'.

It was said to have been sent from a staff sergeant at an SAS base in Hereford, referred to Izzard as a 'class one sniper' and detailed his alleged service history.

Izzars also claimed that this photograph showed him with comrades in Kenya in 1989

Izzard posted this photograph which he claimed was taken while he was on watch duty

Looking at it now, Miss Gyoury said: 'When he gave me paperwork there was this letter from the Army saying he must go for a psychological test.

'It's ridiculous. He spent the time to type up his own letter but it doesn't even have a letter head. He used to get mum to open his post. I thought maybe he posted it to himself so she could open it.'

She added: 'It made me think what mum would have done if she was alive. It would have been very embarrassing for her. It's a big thing to lie about. She wouldn't have wanted to be with him.'

The brother and sister were aided by internet vigilante group the Walter Mitty Hunters Club in outing Izzard as a con.

Images that he'd shared on Facebook were mocked by ex-troops.

The lorry driver said he was 'second from the left' in this photograph of soldiers preparing for a parachute jump above Kentucky in 1990

Despite posting photographs such as this one, the most gruelling battles Izzard had ever fought in were on Britain's roads while working as a delivery driver

Mr Crichton, 53, who lives in the North West, who served in the 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment between 1980-88, said: 'I think it's wrong in every way for someone to impersonate people like this.

'It's very bizarre.'

Responding to the claims, Izzard said: 'It started off as a joke in the pub with a bird years ago. I put some pics on Facebook and the next thing I know I'm getting death threats.'

When asked whether he lied to his ex-wife who has since died of cancer, he revealed: 'That was her involved in the first place, that's who it was.'

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed it has no record of Mark's involvement in the forces.

A spokesman said: 'We have no record of this individual serving in the Army.'

The images Izzard shared on Facebook were later mocked by real former soldiers