Murder victim inside flat, police told
BUT RICHARD BROWNE WAS LYING AND WASTED POLICE TIME WHEN HE DIALLED 999
POLICE were forced to break down the door of a Birkby flat – after a man lied to police that there was a murder victim inside.
Richard Browne, 48, made the false claim that his stepson had murdered someone and left the body inside the Barker Court property.
And it was revealed that Browne’s lies to police caused valuable resources to be wasted previously.
Armed police had to be dispatched when he dialled 999 to say that a gun had been pulled on him.
Browne, of Clayton Fields in Birkby, pleaded guilty to causing wasteful employment of police.
Prosecutor Bill Astin told the Huddersfield court that on June 26 police received three 999 calls from Browne.
He said: “They were from a mobile number and the caller alleged that his stepson had murdered somebody and there was a dead body at a specific address.
“Officers were deployed and there were no signs of a body or offending of any kind.
“They knocked on the door and there was no answer and so they had to force entry by ramming the door.”
The court was told that Browne was previously fined by magistrates for an identical offence of wasting police time.
Mr Astin said: “Then he said that he had gone round to visit a friend and that friend said he owed him money and then pulled a handgun on him.
“An armed response team and a dog unit went round and there was no gun.”
Browne, who was not represented, claimed that his stepson had got mixed up with the wrong crowd and that these men had turned his flat into a drug den.
He claimed that these men had threatened to burn down his house.
However, he admitted that he had lied to police previously and suffered from alcohol and mental health difficulties.
District Judge Michael Fanning told him: “You have to learn that there are consequences for wasting police resources.
“They can’t afford to send police around on wild goose chases like this.
“The door was knocked in by officers who attended thinking that they were going to find a body.
“In the recent past in Huddersfield police have found bodies (at properties) so you need to think about the impact on them, the anxiety caused by attending an incident when they think that it’s going to be horrendous.”
Judge Fanning added that another consequence could have been the arrest of Browne’s stepson for an offence he didn’t commit had he been at the property.
He sentenced him to a 12 month community order with 15 days of rehabilitation activities and 140 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Fanning said: “I am gong to make an example of you. People need to understand that this sort of offence isn’t going to be tolerated.”
Browne will have to pay £85 court costs and £85 victim surcharge.