Jump to content

Gerald Shirtcliff

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerald Shirtcliff
Born1945
Other namesWilliam Fisher (stolen identity)
Known forCTV Building

Gerald Morton Shirtcliff[a] (born 1945) is a New Zealand convicted fraudster who supervised the construction of the CTV Building in the 1980s, which collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and caused 115 deaths. During the construction he identified with the name Will Fisher, which was an identity Shirtcliff stole from a former colleague.

Early life and education

[edit]

Gerald Morton Shirtcliffe[2][a] was born in Wellington in 1945.[3] He was the third child in his family, after two daughters. His father, Morton Shirtcliff, was a business executive who was the manager of Shell Oil for the South Island at the end of his career. Shirtcliff attended Rongotai College in Wellington, where he participated in choir and did neither greatly nor poorly academically. He had also become a bandsman in the Territorial Army and played the trumpet or clarinet.[4]

Career

[edit]

After leaving college Shirtcliff went to work for a bank in Wellington, and later an insurance company. According to The Press, his coworkers of that time have said that Shirtcliff had a tendency to lie.[4] Shirtcliff's early jobs did not work out for him, so he got a commercial pilot's licence at Wanganui Flying School, and was taught by his father. His father thought that overseas experience might be a good idea, and organised a job for him in South Africa. Shirtcliff worked there from 1968 to 1969 in Pretoria at the engineering consultancy company Van Niekerk, Klein and Edwards (now known as VKE), as a junior technician.[4][5] According to an Niek Diedericks, an associate of the time, Shirtcliff told him that he was avoiding the draft for the Vietnam War, despite New Zealand not having one. Shirtcliff later left the company, which according to Diedericks, was because Shirtcliff allegedly forged a signature on a cheque and cashed it in.[4]

Shirtcliff moved to Sydney in late 1969, and according to Stuff, stole the identity of a former colleague in South Africa:[5] William Anthony Fisher, an English engineer. Shirtcliff used Fisher's birthplace, birthdate and Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Sheffield in England. Using this degree, Shirtcliff applied for entrance to a master's programme at the University of New South Wales in 1971 and was awarded a Master of Engineering Science in Highway Engineering in 1974.[3] The Press wrote in 2012 that "It is understood Shirtcliff was assisted in his thesis by his [father]."[6] In 1972 he applied to join the Australian Institute of Engineers[3] and for some time was a fleet manager for Streets ice cream.[4] After working for some time at the Sydney engineering company MacDonald, Wagner and Priddle (now named Aurecon), he moved back to New Zealand in the mid-1980s, describing himself as a "registered" engineer, and at one point "chartered".[3][4]

After moving back to New Zealand, Shirtcliff and Murray Cresswell, a commercial pilot he had met at Christchurch Airport, decided to start a regional airline, Goldfields Air, which failed in 1986 due to disagreements between the two. In October 1992 Shircliff founded the company Autoburger Ltd, to set up burger shops in petrol stations. It later changed its name to Langford Services, and failed in 1999.[4] In 2005, in attempt to sell a failing vehicle-service franchise, Shirtcliff provided Queenstown buyers with fake GST tax returns, making the business appear to be doing well.[5][3][7] As a result, the buyers lost about $300,000[3][4] and Shirtcliff started being investigated for fraud. During the investigations, he spent a week at Brisbane jail and insisted that his name was Will Fisher for a week until admitting that his name is Gerald Shirtcliff.[5][3] Afterwards, he was extradited to New Zealand and was convicted on nine charges of tax fraud in 2005 and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.[5][8] After two weeks a judge decided that the rest of the 20 months could be served in home detention, at a house in New Brighton, a suburb of Christchurch, that belonged to Phil Stanley and Sue Lyons (they let him stay in their home).[2][9] During this time he helped the couple with their Sydenham automotive repair business. Stanley later accused Shirtcliff of stealing his diesel engine invention—which allowed for an engine to use a combination of diesel and LPG—and patenting it in Australia in 2007.[9][2] Shirtcliff was given $1000 a week retainer by investor Wayne Smith, and Smith later said that he had spent over $1 million to hire experts from Germany to work on the design.[2]

The flagpole on top of Parliament House

Shirtcliff started working in Queensland in March 2000 as a registered engineer.[1] He has worked on the Kingsgate Hotel in the Kings Cross Centre in Sydney, mining, power stations, and the 80-metre tall flagpole on Parliament House in Canberra. Investigations have found that these structures have no issues.[5] For the engineering companies Worley Parsons and Sedgman Limited he worked on coal projects at Boggabri, Codrilla, Maules Creek, Lake Vermont and Caval Ridge, Mount Isa Mines and in New Auckland in Gladstone.[1] In his 2009 CV he claimed that he had also worked on a gold mine in Ballarat in Victoria and buildings for the Loy Yang Power Station, also in Victoria.[10]

CTV Building

[edit]
Further information: CTV Building
The CTV Building before the earthquake
Ruins of the CTV Building

In 1986 Shirtcliff was the manager of Williams Construction,[11] which was building the CTV Building in Christchurch, the headquarters of Canterbury Television. There he was the construction manager to supervise the building during its construction in 1986–87.[3] His job there was to make sure the building "was built to comply with drawings and calculations".[12] In 1987 Shirtcliff and his colleagues resigned from Williams Construction and moved to Union Construction Ltd, which was founded by Shirtcliff, Michael Brooks and Tony Scott, and then construction of the building was transferred to that company.[13][14] According to Shirtcliff's superior, Michael Brooks, Shirtcliff was fired from the company after the CTV Building was finished and after Brooks had left, but, "not for reasons of technical incompetence".[5][12] Brooks has described Shirtcliff's work as disappointing, saying, "He just wasn't up to the job, it's as simple as that".[13]

The building collapsed in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, which resulted in 115 deaths.[3][4] In June 2012 during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the collapse of the CTV Building, Shirtcliff initially refused to give evidence,[8] initially refusing to say where in Australia he was located,[15] which is when Shirtcliff first made headlines.[7] He initially only communicated with investigators via email,[14] and by 8 August participated in the inquiry through a video call.[12][16][17]

Shirtcliff went on to say that "I had only limited involvement in the CTV building" and "I deny I was responsible for supervising construction of the CTV building".[18] Commission lawyers accused Shirtcliff of claiming that he had lower responsibility in the building's construction than what he had had.[7] Shirtcliff said that he visited the construction site once a month "at most", while his boss said that he thought that Shirtcliff visited the site daily.[19]

Investigations about Shirtcliff

[edit]

After Fairfax (later known as Stuff) investigated Shirtcliff and made the allegations against him, he threatened to sue them if they published them.[3][4] They then published the story in September 2012, which resulted in what has been described as a "minor sensation" in New Zealand and a "scandal" in Australia.[5] In October an episode of the Australian television news programme 60 Minutes about him aired.[17][5]

After Fairfax provided their identity theft investigation to the Brisbane engineering consultancy company WorleyParsons, who Shirtcliff had started working for in 2009, WorleyParsons terminated Shirtcliff and started investigating him themselves. Shortly afterwards, Shirtcliff started contracting for Segman, another Brisbane engineering company. Sedgman also terminated Shirtcliff after hearing the allegations made against Shirtcliff. Engineers Australia and the University of New South Wales also started investigating,[3] and went on to strip Shirtcliff of his degree.[7][6] In October 2012, Engineers Australia came to the conclusion that Shirtcliff had stolen the identity of Fisher,[7] and revoked his membership.[20] Engineers Australia also complained to the Australian Federal Police about the false identity, but after a five-month investigation a spokeswoman for the police said that "no Commonwealth offences were identified" and the police laid no charges against him. The Australian Police said that they had given "advice" to the New Zealand Police and would provide assistance.[21] Shirtcliff was also investigated by the New Zealand Police.[17][22]

In August 2014 Shirtcliff was fined $500,000 after pleading guilty to 146 charges brought by the Queensland Board of Professional Engineers in Magistrates Court. The charges were about making false or misleading statements, and working as an unqualified engineer.[5][23] He also had to pay $20,000 in professional costs.[1]

Personal life

[edit]

Shirtcliff lives in Australia as of 2021[5] and has spent most of his working life in Australia.[5] As of 2012, he lives on the coast of Cleveland, New South Wales. Shirtcliff met his wife Julie Rook in about the 1970s in Australia when he worked for MacDonald, Wagner and Priddle. The two have grandchildren.[4]

Fake identity

[edit]

Shirtcliff's fake identity was taken from William Anthony Fisher. Shirtcliff used Fisher's name, birthdate, birthplace and Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Sheffield in England.[3] Fisher was born in Hong Kong in 1946, got his Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1967 and became a chartered engineer in 1974 in London. When Fisher and Shirtcliff worked in South Africa in the 1960s the two flatted togegther for about six to eight months. Fisher moved to England in 1969 to get married, and lost contact with Shirtcliff. In 2012 Fisher described Shirtcliff as being colourful, a bit mysterious and a person who told a lot of stories.[4] On an episode of the news television show 60 minutes Fisher said about the identity theft that "It makes me feel pretty rotten; my name is stuck there like mud isn't it? Part of my anxiety is what the hell else has he got up to?".[10]

In 2012 Shirtcliff said that he had been living in Australia with the name "Fisher" due to "family issues" that had been lasting for 40 years.[24][25] He said it was due to abuse from his father,[4] which was denied by his family.[6]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b His surname is Shirtcliffe but it is often shortened to Shirtcliff.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Atfield, Cameron (10 August 2014). "Fake engineer worked on Queensland projects". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 22 April 2024 – via Stuff.
  2. ^ a b c d Bayer, Kurt (29 September 2012). "Quake building fraudster 'stole my idea'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l van Beynen, Martin (14 September 2012). "Fake engineer and a deadly building". The Press. Retrieved 22 April 2024 – via The Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "CTV builder's lies exposed". The Press. 15 September 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2024 – via PressReader.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wright, Michael (16 February 2021). "Collapse: Revisiting the odd case of Gerald Shirtcliff, the fake CTV engineer". Stuff. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b c van Beynen, Martin (27 November 2012). "Fake engineer's qualification stripped". The Press. Retrieved 24 May 2024 – via Stuff.
  7. ^ a b c d e Bayer, Kurt (27 November 2012). "CTV fraudster has degree revoked". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  8. ^ a b Beynen, Martin Van (28 June 2012). "Builder rides out quake commission by the bay". Brisbane Times. The Press. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Fake engineer 'stole idea'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Fraudster's Australian ties". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Pivotal CTV witness agrees to give video evidence". APNZ. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  12. ^ a b c Bayer, Kurt (8 August 2012). "CTV construction manager not 'up to the job'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Commission hears CTV construction manager not 'up to job'". RNZ. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  14. ^ a b Wright, Michael (25 June 2012). "Survivor describes CTV collapse". The Press. Retrieved 23 April 2024 – via Stuff.
  15. ^ "CTV:115". Stuff. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  16. ^ "Commission should consider Shirtcliff allegations - MP". RNZ. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  17. ^ a b c "Shirtcliff linked to other building projects". RNZ. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  18. ^ "My role was limited - Shirtcliff". The Press. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  19. ^ Bayer, Kurt (21 September 2012). "CTV fraudster could be investigated". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  20. ^ Van Beynen, Martin (27 November 2012). "Fake engineer's qualification stripped". Stuff. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  21. ^ "Police: No case against CTV man". The New Zealand Herald. 22 April 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  22. ^ "Timeline: CTV building collapse". RNZ. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  23. ^ "Fake engineer fined $500,000". RNZ. 10 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  24. ^ Bayer, Kurt (21 September 2012). "CTV fraudster could be investigated". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  25. ^ "CTV fraudster to be investigated". Otago Daily Times. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
Retrieved from "http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Gerald_Shirtcliff&oldid=1274932075"