Anthony Adams became Dr Anthony Brennan and created various bogus personas, including targeting an Under 10s football team and a bereaved family.
04:30, 11 May 2026
“Anthony Adams” aka Anthony Brennan outside Ayr Sheriff Court
The relentless deceptions of Anthony Brennan have been chronicled in the Daily Record for eight years. Cases have ranged from amusing to deeply sinister – and several have involved innocent victims being duped out of money and the Walter Mitty passing himself off as a doctor.
The latest court conviction for the schemer came at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, where he admitted defrauding blind army veteran Bill Mackie, taking medals and cash from trusting Bill and sending him on a wild goose chase to Tanzania.
Anthony Adams, fake Celtic scout, at Ayr Sheriff court
Our barely believable revelations chart how Bill, 72, and wife Heather, 67, bought plane tickets for Tanzania and turned up for a meeting with the African nation’s foreign minister in the capital of Dogdoma in 2023.
Bill and Heather were humiliated when the politician was not available – and had never heard of any meeting.
He was so furious at the wasted 9,000 mile round trip that he reported Brennan, 32, to the police – presenting officers with Daily Record stories that documented the scammer’s previous deception antics.
Pic shows Bill Mackie and wife Heather Mackie pictured in Tanzania the couple were scammed by Brennan.
He also told how Brennan made his own fake Interpol card, telling Bill he had the power to arrest international gangsters. It is believed that there are many more victims of Brennan that have not yet come to light.
The delusions of grandeur that have motivated the bogus doctor have been in place for many years but we caught up with him in 2018, when he recruited trainee first aiders, who thought they were employed by a bona-fide private ambulance company.
First aiders have accused a Walter Mitty employer of using them to “chase ambulances” and failing to pay wages.
Record has followed Brennan’s scams
Then aged just 23 and going by the name Anthony Adams, the scammer held open days to recruit staff – including doctors, nurses, medics, and drivers – for National Events Medical Services, claiming he would be covering major sporting events.
But staff told how he charged them £250 for training and uniforms – then refused to cough up for work they did.
The work involved waiting for alerts via an electronic alert system then trying to beat the Scottish Ambulance Service to the job.
Anthony Adams tranforms into Dr Anthony Brennan, fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts He bought an honorary doctorate online (from the California Church and University Institute, a bullshit diploma generator site , for $79). He told everyone it was from the University of California.
Timeline of a fantasist’s life of deception
Oct 2018: First aiders accused a Brennan – than using the name Tony Adams – of using them to “chase ambulances” and failing to pay wages.
In November 2018, We were contacted by victims of a defibrillator scam. They claimed sold them medical devices which didn’t arrive.
Between July and Oct 2021 – Brennan pretends to be a surgeon and weedles his way into the lives of the family of a motorbike crash victim.
April 2022 – we told how Adams changed his name to Dr Anthony Brennan – and had paid £60 for a fake doctorate from a bogus university.He then passed off the work of a world famous scientist (the real Dr Anthony Brennan) as his own.
April 2023 – Brennan steals the medals and cash from Bill Mackie.
Jan 2024 – Brennan is jailed for impersonating a surgeon at Crosshouse Hospital and distressing the dead man’s family with his lies.
Here are just some of the other outrageous deceptions concocted by Anthony Brennan/Adams:
In April 2022 we told how Adams had paid £60 for a fake doctorate from a bogus university – and changed his name to Dr Anthony Brennan. These deceptions allowed him to be accepted as a member of the Royal Society for Arts.
After signing up for the academia.edu website, which gathers the achievements of bona-fide academics, the Walter Mitty character passed off award-winning work by world-famous US scientist Professor Anthony Brennan as his own.
The Record later spoke to the real Dr Brennan, who furiously denounced the ginger impersonator.
Pix show Anthony Adams aka Tony Adams, aka Anthony Brennan – at the point of “ambulance chasing”
Those revelations followed more alarming news in 2022 on the fraudster, who’d been passing himself off as a Celtic scout.
Brennan was reported to police after approaching the Under-10 boys’ coach and saying he’d been sent by the giant Glasgow club.
He was convicted at Ayr Sheriff Court and given a Community Payback Order for 18 months.
Adams had earlier been accused of stealing North Ayrshire Council ID badges and clothing and impersonating a council employee. A not guilty plea to this charge was accepted.
University Hospital Crosshouse (Image: Kilmarnock standard)
In January, 2024, Brennan was finally jailed for six months after he pretended to be a surgeon and gained entry to restricted areas at Ayrshire’s Crosshouse Hospital between July 3 and October 2021.
Cruel Brennan befriended the family of a man who died in a motorcycle accident – and spun a web of lies that led to him having a key role at the man’s funeral.
He also told the dead man’s sister the dead man had become a dad before he died – and falsely claimed to have heard his dying words.
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard that NHS chiefs had re-examined their security measures at Crosshouse after Adams’ deception raised “significant concerns”.
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