A second Western Australian man has come forward to claim he was the target of a cruel Facebook hoax involving a photo of a person urinating on a war memorial . The image of a young man desecrating on a tribute went viral on social media , aiming to shame the person responsible . 'This is Liam Powell from Perth , western [ sic ] Australia urinating on a war memorial - share if you 're disgusted , ' the image was captioned . However , the wrong person was vindicated in the campaign . It has since been revealed that the photo was taken in England six years ago and the real culprit was 19-year-old named Philip Laing . Contrary to the caption , this Facebook image really shows Mr Laing , 19 , soaking the wreaths of poppies in 2009 . Liam Powell from Wanneroo in Perth 's north is now hoping to clear his name , alleging that he was purposefully identified as the person in the image in an attempt to ruin his reputation . Another Liam Powell , a footballer from East Perth , has already spoken out to allege that he was intentionally victimised by the post . Both are insistent that the post was a personal attack , intended to ruin their reputation . Mr Powell from Wanneroo told Fairfax that he has an ongoing problem with internet trolls . 'This was actually aimed at me , ' he told Fairfax , refuting the earlier claims from the East Perth Powell . ' I 've had a problem with people on Facebook , ' he said but is bewildered as to why he is the supposedly subject of such a cruel bullying campaign . He is feeling victimised after receiving almost 300 mostly nasty comments on Facebook regarding the viral photo . Philip Laing ( pictured ) pleaded guilty but escaped jail time and was instead sentenced to 250 hours of community service . Earlier , the other Mr Powell and his family explained that they felt shamed by the Facebook hoax as they have a military history , WA Today reported . Liam Powell 's father , Andrew , said he 's been flooded with comments from those who saw the image and the offending caption naming his 17-year-old son , who 's an East Perth footballer . 'It 's not Liam , ' Mr Powell told WA Today . 'It 's embarrassing for our family . ' Mr Powell says he was particularly upset by the image due to his long military history . He says his father was in the navy , his grandfather was in the Second World War and his great-grandfather also fought in the Boer War . 'Even though it 's not him [ Liam Powell ] , I feel ashamed because people think it 's him , ' Mr Powell said . The real culprit , 19-year-old Mr Laing , caused revulsion in 2009 after he was pictured soaking the wreaths of poppies during a mass student bar crawl in the UK . The student , who pleaded guilty but escaped jail time and was instead sentenced to 250 hours of community service . Laing , is thought to have no memory of the urinating incident , which happened on a night out in 2009 when Mr Laing has been buying drinks for £1 ( about AUS $ 2 ) . He was ordered to pay £185 ( about AUS $ 366 ) in prosecution costs . The real culprit , Mr Laing , told probation officers back in 2009 that he had been buying drinks for £1 ( about AUS $ 2 ) on the night . Security staff later washed the memorial .
A photo on Facebook has gone viral which claims to depict 17-year - old Liam Powell peeing on a war memorial . it is captioned : ' This is a Powell from nowhere , Western Australia urinating on a war memorial - share if you 're disgusted . ' However the photo really shows British student pu Laing and was taken in 2009 .