Mystery of the fake mayor of Stafford: Fraudster tricks entire town with bogus Twitter account showing him wearing mayoral chain, congratulating elderly residents on their birthdays and even cutting the ribbon at Alton Towers

Prankster has set up spoof Twitter account named @mayorofstafford

He tweets about his duties and was even pictured 'opening' Alton Towers

Politicians don't see funny side because it brings 'mayoralty into disrepute'

A prankster has fooled a town's residents into believing he is their mayor after setting up a spoof Twitter account.

Prankster James Billington has managed to trick locals, politicians and businesses into thinking he is the real Mayor of Stafford.

He has uploaded pictures to his Twitter account @mayorofstafford of himself wearing a mayoral chain and even cutting the ribbon at an 'opening' at Alton Towers Theme Park.

Duties: One of the pictures from the Twitter account of the hoax Mayor of Stafford. James Billington has fooled residents into thinking he holds the esteemed ceremonial position

'Mayor Billington' visits a building site in Staffordshire, praising the business for investing in his town. He has even handed out badges saying: 'I'm the Mayor of Stafford'



The joker, believed to be in his 30s, has also been cheering on competitors in a half marathon and congratulating elderly residents on their birthday whilst wearing his livery collar.

On his bio he states: 'I'm James Billington, the current Mayor of Stafford. Delighted to be representing the town of Stafford & surrounding areas. Views are my own.'

James - who has no affiliation with Stafford Borough Council whatsoever- has even made his own badges which proudly state: 'I'm The Mayor Of Stafford'.

Bit of fun: But the fake Twitter account has attracted the ire of local politicians

But since his fictional life came to light Stafford Borough Council have now asked Twitter to shut down the bogus account.

Their actions were prompted by a complaint from the Mayor of Shrewsbury Jon Tandy who was angry when he was compared to a 'bad guy' from Superman 2.

On March 21 James tweeted: 'Sharing a meeting with the mayor of Shrewsbury today. Never liked him. Reminds me of one of the bad guys from Superman 2.'

SOME OF THE 'MAYOR'S' TWEETS

I've opened so many shops/offices today in #Stafford I've got an achind hand with all this ribbon cutting! Thought I saw Cristiano Ronaldo inside Guildhall Shopping Centre today. Went and said hello. Turns out it wasn't him. She was fine with it.



Did you know the average mayor chain weighs 3kg but the Stafford mayor chain weighs over 4 stone? This is because #Stafford is awesome.



Mayors wife has a very bad hangover after #StPatricksDay drinking! She was last heard shouting 'wazzzzzzzzzzup' at 3am! She's not even Irish!

To which Cllr Tandy replied: 'Never had the pleasure of meeting @mayorofstafford .



'Surprised by his tweet today. Maybe he was hacked or mistaken?"

After it was pointed out the real mayor of Stafford is Labour councillor Angela Loughran, who has held the ceremonial role for ten months, he then complained to the council.'

Today Cllr Loughran said: 'Nobody minds a bit of fun on social media.

'But it is unacceptable that this person is purporting to be the Mayor of Stafford and making disparaging remarks about another Mayor.

'This is bringing the mayoralty into disrepute.'

A spokesman from Stafford Borough Council confirmed: 'We received an email from Shrewsbury Town Council who were unimpressed with comments made on Twitter which had come from an account with the name James Billington purporting to be the "mayorofstafford".'

Billington even managed to dupe theme park giants Alton Towers after tweeting them saying: 'Looking forward to opening/attending @altontowers tomorrow! Britain's best theme park in great #Staffordshire.'

They responded with: '@mayorofstafford We look forward to seeing you for our £OpeningWeekend! It's going to be great! :-).'

Alongside the image of him cutting a ribbon, he tweeted: 'Honoured to open @altontowers for their 2014 season today! #OpeningWeekend #staffordshirehour #Staffordshire.'

Posting a picture of his home-made badges he added: 'Looking forward to giving out these badges to the great people of #Stafford over the next few weeks!'

The real one: The actual Mayor of Stafford Angela Loughran, pictured at a event held for the Mayor's charity. Right, a young political supporter proudly displays her badge



Another picture shows him at a building site in a high-vis jacket and helmet with the caption: 'Was very pleased to be part of the building process of new businesses in #Stafford area this morning #investment.'

Some of the tweets from fooled residents include Jack Hughes who said: 'Any comment on the Boro Council scandal, you Worshipful and esteemed Mayor? Will you all resign now?'

Stafford Round Table even invited Billington to one of their fundraising events, adding: 'Fancy joining us on one of our upcoming social events? #makefriends #havefun #dosomegood'

Local Stafford Book Club also invited him to promote on of their events, saying: '#mayorofstafford Hi, we're launching a new book club in Stafford soon, any chance of a RT?'

Following his tweet regarding the mayor of Shrewsbury, Kevin Tanner (@kevtan1066) tweeted: '@mayorofstafford what the hell? Is this a joke, in very poor taste! If it isn't you should resign now!'

His bizarre actions have drawn a mixed response from residents living in the Midlands town, which has a population of 122,000.

Awesome: A bizarre tweet plugging the Midlands town

Dad-of-one James Longley, 33, said: 'He seems happy to be parading around in his chains acting like the mayor, but it needs to stop.

'There will be people wanting to speak to the mayor on serious issues, but this man is simply a fraud.'

Another resident Bal Singh, 22, added: 'I feel so stupid, I believed it was him. How many people know the name of their town mayor? There was no reason to disbelieve him.