Police told man’s parents he’d died in Spain… then made him PROVE his identity when he

A father was left baffled after police knocked on his parents’ door and told them he had died in Spain. 

Nathan Blake, 35, was in the bath when he received a ‘surreal’ phone call on August 15 from his mother to say that two officers had delivered the horrific news he was dead. 

Passport in hand, Mr Blake had to rush to his parents’ home down the road to prove to the police he was in fact still alive. 

After ringing up the British consulate the next day, he was told an imposter had been masquerading as him for three years.

It emerged the man had given Mr Blake’s name and passport number when he was arrested in Barcelona in 2022 – presumably with fake documents. 

It remains unclear how the conman got Mr Blake’s details, but it is believed to be linked to him visiting Barcelona on a stag do just months earlier.

The Spanish Guardia reportedly said the imposter was using two different aliases for three years and when he died they found Mr Blake’s identification on his person.

Mr Blake’s partner Holly West, 31, shared a TikTok clip explaining the ‘bizarre’ situation, captioned ‘police turned up and said my partner was unalive’, which has since gone viral with more than 998,000 views.

Nathan Blake, 35, (pictured with his partner Holly West) received a ‘surreal’ phone call on August 15 from his mother to say that two officers had delivered the horrific news he was dead

Ms West West shared a TikTok clip explaining the ‘bizarre’ situation, captioned ‘police turned up and said my partner was unalive’, which has since gone viral with more than 998,000 views

In the video you can hear the mother-of-two saying: ‘I’ve never had a night like this in my life.’ 

Unsure how the stranger got hold of his passport details, the father-of-two is now ‘concerned’ what implications this will have for the future.

Ms West has set up a GoFundMe page to cover the legal costs to help clear her partner’s name.

Mr Blake, a quantity surveyor who lives in Aylesford, Kent, said: ‘My body went into a state of shock. I was shaken up a bit. It was so surreal and I didn’t believe what was going on. It felt like a prank or a hoax.

‘I’d just got out of the bath and my mum called me. I thought ‘why is my mum calling me at 10pm at night’. She said ”I have the police here” and I said ”what have I done”?

‘They’d come round to tell them that I’d died and that Spanish police had informed them that I was dead out there but obviously I wasn’t. Ironically, I had just got out of the bath and I was completely fine. It’s just so weird.

‘I thought, are they real police or is it an elaborate hoax? I only live up the road so I got dressed, went in the car and got down there.

‘The policewoman came over and she apologised for the situation and said ”we’ve never had this happen before”.

‘I went and sat down with my parents and they were okay. My mum just didn’t believe it. My dad was a bit taken back by it.’ 

He added: ‘The police had quite quickly said I was dead and that they’d been notified by the Spanish police in the same sentence so it was quickly identified that it wasn’t me.

It emerged a conman had given Mr Blake’s name and passport number when he was arrested in Barcelona in 2022 – presumably with fake documents 

‘I had messaged [my parents] in the family group chat an hour before that so in the back of their minds they thought ”he can’t be dead”.’

Mr Blake rang the British consulate the next day who explained the ‘crazy’ situation.

He hopes Spanish authorities are working to remove the record of him but the family have been advised to seek a Spanish lawyer to check his name for criminal records in a few months.

Mr Blake said: ‘I have no idea how he got hold of my details. The story [the British consulate] told me was that he got arrested in Barcelona and gave all my details.

‘He must’ve had something to corroborate that. He’d been tracked for a couple of years and when he died he had two aliases on him and the one they went with was mine. I don’t know enough about the situation and what crimes had been committed.

‘It’s just crazy the fact the bloke was found in Barcelona after I’d been there. The fact he was in Barcelona all added up. It was like I was living a double life.

‘I thought, did something happen when I was out there? Or did one of my mates do it as a joke? It’s just bizarre.

‘My only concern is if I go abroad and my passport is blocked or I go somewhere else and get arrested. I don’t want that to happen.

‘I’m innocent in this so it’s unfair. I have to stress about all this stuff. I just want to get it resolved.’

Travel agent Ms West hopes to spread awareness about her partner’s ‘unbelievable’ predicament to help prevent the same thing from happening to anyone else.

She said: ‘It’s just a bit bizarre and a bit unbelievable.

‘I was thinking he was walking into a potentially dodgy scenario. I thought, this could be a real easy target and if someone wanted him dead right now this would be the perfect way to do it.

‘I phoned Kent Police and explained my concerns because I just wanted to confirm this was genuine. They said they’d had a call about this earlier, this is a genuine call-out.

‘It’s outrageous. It’s so comical he was in the bath of all places. He was just running around in a towel. I’ve just got to laugh at it because hopefully it’ll get sorted. It’s just mental.

‘Jon’s concerned about what implications this is going to have on his life. We have been to Spain since and travelled since and nothing’s flagged up that he’s a criminal. He’s not dead and he’s not a criminal but they can’t guarantee that. It’s crazy.’