Captain Calamity declares tiny island independent from Britain

Stuart Hill - nicknamed Captain Calamity by Shetlanders - said 2.5-acre Forewick Holm recognises neither the British government nor the European Union, but should be a crown dependency like the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

The new Crown Dependency - renamed Forvik Island - will have no income tax, VAT, council tax or corporation tax.

A currency, the Forvik gulde, will be issued later this year.

Breakaway: Stuart Hill, a.k.a. Captain Calamity, on his newly re-named Forvik Island where he has declared independence from the UK Government

Mr Hill, an Englishman, said his adopted Shetland Islands could enjoy massive benefits if they followed suit.

Originally from Claydon in East Anglia, he came to Shetland seven years ago when he was rescued from his yacht Maximum Exposure while attempting to circumnavigate the British Isles.

Mr Hill has moved to Forewick Holm, in the Sound of Papa, where he is in the process of building a 16ft-square shelter.

It is his latest bid to convince Shetlanders to break away from the UK, adopt ancient feudal law and take charge of their own destiny.

He claims Shetland has never become legally part of Scotland.

Mr Hill said his island, though small, could hold the key to fundamental changes in Shetland and possibly the UK.

Forvik Island is a tiny dot off the Shetlands

'Shetland's relationship with the UK is based on the assumption that it is part of Scotland,' he said. 'That assumption is based on deception at the highest level, has been achieved by subterfuge, and nobody can give a date on which it happened.

'By declaring Forvik a Crown Dependency I am simply re-establishing the correct legal relationship between this part of Shetland and the Crown.

'By doing so I will prove that Shetland as a whole can get the same benefits and more - simply by asserting rights that already exist,' he said.

Mr Hill said Shetland would reap all the benefits from North Sea oil should the 22,000-strong island community follow suit.

'If the oil revenues would go straight into a Shetland bank, the isles would be in a totally different position,' he said.

He dismissed suggestions that this was yet another stunt by an Englishman out of touch with local views.

'The worst thing that could happen is that people just ignore me. But I think I am sufficiently abrasive from this position for people to take note and to realise that the advantages of what I am doing could be very attractive to Shetland as a whole.

He said he had contacted Shetland Islands Council prior to his move in a bid to receive support and legal advice.

Yesterday, the council chief executive Morgan Goodlad said he had no knowledge of such an approach.

He added: 'Similarly to the attempt some years ago regarding Rockall, I would imagine to strengthen his case would require permanent residence.'