A former soldier who saved a policeman from a gang of football hooligans is due to be sentenced for impersonating a police officer.
Tom Bardsley made headlines after describing how he dragged Pc Mick Regan away from a mob of rioting Rangers fans after the Uefa Cup final in Manchester last year.
But months after being hailed as a hero the 24-year-old was arrested for pretending to be a police officer in an apparent attempt to avoid paying for a train ticket on a journey from Birmingham to Manchester in September 2008.
A member of staff approached Bardsley to check his ticket but Bardsley said he worked for British Transport Police (BTP).
After the guard telephoned the BTP, Bardsley said he was a Ministry of Defence police officer and agreed to pay a train fare.
Bardsley, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was arrested in October and found guilty of impersonating a police officer at Manchester Magistrates' Court last week.
The 24-year-old admitted that he had travelled on the train but denied pretending to be a police officer, the CPS said.
Bardsley will be sentenced at Manchester Magistrates' Court.
