An internet prankster who has racked up millions of views is actually a convicted criminal using an assumed name, Newsquest can reveal.
The man, who poses as a TfL worker and films himself making fake announcements on the tube, recently gave an interview to news website MyLondon under the name of Isaac Richman.
The interview was later republished on the Daily Mail’s website.
But the prankster's name is not Isaac Richman.
The real name of the minor internet celebrity, who was until recently soliciting donations from fans through his social media channels, is Rowan Diedrick.
He was caught lying in court in 2012 after his dog inflicted life-changing injuries on a child.
Mr Diedrick, 40, operates a network of social media channels, including two YouTube pages and two Facebook pages.
He uses some to share conspiracy theories.
He almost never lets his real name slip out online – but he used it earlier this year to register a “video production” and “performing arts” business with Companies House.
The firm - More Talent Less Limited - was incorporated on February 6, 2023.
Mr Diedrick gave his address to Companies House as Great Portland Street, but was said in his recent press interview to live in north London.
More Talent Less Limited is the same name he uses on video-sharing platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, where he has amassed tens of thousands of fans and millions of views.
In some videos, he encouraged "peng" (attractive) female fans to join him at "secret meet-ups", the details of which could be obtained by sending him private messages.
Mr Diedrick also solicited financial donations from his fans through one of his social media channels.
The donation link led to a PayPal account which revealed his real name.
Conviction
As a young man, High Court judges would later write, Mr Diedrick received "minor convictions" for possessing cannabis and driving without insurance, which gave "an impression of a degree of fecklessness in [his] lifestyle".
But Mr Diedrick would make national headlines in 2012 by lying in court after his pet Rottweiler severely injured a little boy.
In 2011, at which time Mr Diedrick lived in Enfield and worked as a dry-liner, he ignored a “no dogs” rule on Southend seafront and let his two Rottweilers off their leads.
One, called Sizzler, ran into the sea and mauled a seven-year-old.
The "sustained" and "frenzied" attack left the boy scarred for life. One of his muscles was torn "down to the bone", requiring surgery, and a court later heard he could require further operations into adulthood.
Diedrick fled the scene and quickly sold the dogs, not telling the buyer about the attack.
He was only arrested weeks later when his own mother recognised him in a CCTV appeal and turned him in.
He lied to police, probation workers and a judge, claiming he had rushed into the sea and pulled the dog off of the boy, but was then forced to flee because a gang of men began threatening him.
His account was contradicted by witnesses and CCTV footage. The boy's grandmother and other witnesses said it was her who had pulled the dog off the boy.
At Basildon Crown Court in summer 2012, prosecutor Samantha Lowther told him: “You’re making it up as you go along, Mr Diedrick, aren’t you?”
Judge Owen Davies QC ruled that Diedrick had fabricated his account.
“I have no doubt at all that the accused has invented, in order to diminish his blame for the incident, a number of matters which simply did not take place,” he said.
"You displayed a callous disregard for the welfare of the victim... You did not help in any way... You left the scene and made yourself scarce... When you were interviewed by the police, it is clear you did not tell the truth and evaded your responsibilities."
Diedrick was sentenced to 16 months in prison and banned from owning a dog for ten years.
Social Media
At the time of the attack, Mr Diedrick was attempting to find fame as a rapper, using the name Real D3vious. He stated in 2010 that his ambition was to become a millionaire.
Many of his music videos remain online.
One graphic sexual song - posted online under another nom de plume, It's Jus Real - was illustrated with a press photograph from his court appearance over the mauling of the child.
Offline, High Court judges would later write, Mr Diedrick "was said to have few friends and to spend a lot of time on his own."
In 2015 he made headlines again, for thwarting security staff at the Wireless music festival in Finsbury Park by opening a gate and letting in a crowd of people without tickets.
He claimed he had done it to save two security workers who could have been “crushed” or “trampled” without his intervention.
Mr Diedrick used YouTube and Facebook prolifically throughout lockdown, uploading video diaries in which he shared conspiracy theories.
Among his claims were that Covid-19 was “not real” and that Donald Trump was “robbed” of the 2020 US election.
He also accused a world leader of being a paedophile.
He now runs YouTube, Instagram and TikTok pages under the name MoreTalentLessLimited.
He mostly uploads videos posing as a London Underground worker and making fake customer announcements.
TfL told this newspaper that Mr Diedrick requires permission to film such videos, but has neither sought it nor received it.
From the YouTube page, fans could follow a link to send Mr Diedrick cash – but he has now removed it.
Mr Diedrick's Response
Contacted through TikTok, Mr Diedrick said: “My name is Isaac Richman but feel free to run any article you choose.”
He added: “So if I happen to be the person you’re talking about, who has clearly turned his life around, you want to be the man to end that?”
He accused this newspaper of basing its reporting on “hearsay”, then changed his settings so we could no longer contact him.
But he later uploaded a YouTube video in which he admitted that he was Rowan Diedrick.
"I was sentenced to six months in jail," he claimed, falsely.
"There was a lot of lies that was told during that trial. None of them were told by me.
"Newspapers ran the story... All of them ran the lies. None of them ran the truth.
"The truth was only revealed at the Royal Courts of Justice. It was revealed that I wasn't lying in court. So if I wasn't lying in court, then who was lying in court?"
This newspaper has obtained the judgment issued by the Royal Courts of Justice, handed down on September 19, 2012, by Lord Justice Pitchford, Mr Justice Bean and Mr Justice Underhill.
They did not reverse Judge Davies's finding that Mr Diedrick had lied.
In fact, they agreed that he had made "various statements... about the incident which were untrue".
However, they did reduce his sentence from 16 months to 11, saying Judge Davies had assigned Mr Diedrick too high a level of culpability.
"For all the aggravation in his subsequent conduct, the actual act which led to the incident consisted of the appellant letting the dogs off the lead, in a public place, where they should not have been in the first place; but when, importantly, he had no specific reason to believe that they might attack people," the judges wrote.
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