Fugitive Dutch cheese-seller jailed over false slavery claim

Branco Van-Wissen committed the crime in 2014 but fled to his native Netherlands

A market stall cheese-vendor who tried to frame a fellow trader as a human trafficker before going on the run has been jailed.

Branco van Wissen texted police in 2014 claiming his flower-seller rival was holding two people captive in slavery.

He then fled to his native Netherlands, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Van Wissen, 31, was jailed for 18 months having been recently extradited to the UK. He admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard Van Wissen and his Dutch rival worked on the same market in Cumbria at the time of the message.

The two had a major fallout with Van Wissen claiming his compatriot was "intimidating, menacing" and subjecting him to a "campaign of abuse and terror", the court heard.

Van Wissen, then aged 25, sent a text to police which named a couple he knew and purported to show they were the victims of modern slavery and being held captive in a vehicle at the continental market in Whitehaven.

'Truly sorry'

"He promised to kill my girlfriend if we call," the message stated. "Please help. We want escape but no chance."

After the message was picked up by a police force in the south of England, officers swooped on the market and arrested two men.

"A lorry was searched and nobody was inside," prosecutor Clare Thomas said.

"The inquiry itself involved a significant number of police hours, about 152 in total, and both men who were initially arrested were detained for about 12 hours.

Van Wissen, of Herveld, Holland, failed to appear in front of a judge in September 2014, and arrest warrants were issued, which saw him arrested late last year.

His barrister, Erim Mushtaq, said he had acted "stupidly and naively" with "great deal of immaturity and a lack of sophistication", and spent more than 100 days in custody, both in his homeland and the UK.

Mr Mushtaq said Van Wissen was "truly sorry" for wasting police time and for the men having to spend time detained.