Hoax letters said sister’s husband was terror threat
A DIVORCE bust-up led to a vengeful family member sending hoax letters to police and the Home Office claiming her brother-in-law was planning a mass terror attack, a court heard.
Bushra Ali, 39, penned the false tipoffs because she felt her own brother had been badly treated during his divorce from the man’s sister.
She targeted her brother-in-law, who was married to her sister, to get back at him after he and his wife gave refuge to her sister-in-law along with the children.
She sent three handwritten letters to Thames Valley Police, the area crime commissioner and Home Office alleging her brother-in-law was a friend of London Bridge killer Usman Khan and part of a gang who were ‘going to do a very big attack during Christmas 2019’.
The false claims wasted hundreds of police hours, Reading crown court heard.
Prosecutor Christopher Hewertson said: ‘During the acrimonious separation between the defendant’s brother and his ex-wife, the defendant clearly sided with her brother and against her sister and her husband, because they had provided accommodation for the ex-wife.
‘The battle lines started to be drawn, in effect creating two feuding wings of this
family unit.’ The first letter was scrawled on the back of a photo of Ali’s brotherin-law at a family wedding in Pakistan.
It showed him firing a gun into the air, along with other guests, as is the custom, the court was told.
Ali gave her brother-in-law’s address and wrote: ‘This man and his friend are terrorists.’
The second said: ‘Please help us from this evil.’ And the third said: ‘We need help to save our GB and our people.’
Ali, from Reading, was sentenced to 30 months in jail after admitting perverting the course of justice. She was ordered to pay £181 in court costs.