Crimestoppers: PC 'made false claims' about student
- Published
PC Abubakar Masum made "a series of calls" making false accusations, a court is told
A police officer made false claims to Crimestoppers that a student was in a drugs gang after a relationship between them cooled, a jury has been told.
PC Abubakar Masum subjected the student and her friends to an "upsetting, humiliating and frightening intrusion into their lives", the court heard.
He admitted making a series of calls to the charity but denied perverting the course of public justice.
He also denied securing unauthorised access to police computer material.
Cardiff Crown Court was told PC Masum wasted 200 hours of police time, after making a series of anonymous calls about the Swansea University student.
He claimed she was hiding guns and drugs in her home and had shot a man and dumped his body in the sea.
The prosecution claims the officer befriended the criminology student and swapped messages with her on Snapchat about police work as she was interested in joining the force.
The messages became more frequent and flirty, the court was told, and the officer stayed overnight at the student's house after he was attacked by her ex-boyfriend at a nightclub.
But the jury was told the student's interest in PC Masum cooled and she did not want to maintain contact with him.
The woman was studying criminology at Swansea University and was interested in joining the police when she met PC Abubakar Masum
Soon afterwards, the Crimestoppers hotline received an anonymous call claiming the student was storing a handgun at her home and that she and a friend were planning to shoot another man in a drugs feud.
The court heard how around 20 armed officers had raided her home as a result, handcuffing her housemate and placing him in a police van as they searched the premises.
Armed officers also arrived at the Tesco store where she was working at the time to question her and a co-worker named by the informer. Nothing was found.
Drugs and guns claims
A few months later in May 2020, Crimestoppers received another tip off - this time claiming the student had a gun and drugs buried in her garden. Officers called to the student's house as she was studying for her exams - again nothing was found.
He was responsible for eight anonymous reports to Crimestoppers. The content of each report was false and untrue. The making of these reports had serious repercussions to those affected.
The court was told a number of similar calls to Crimestoppers were made in May and June 2020 - each time naming the same student and her friends, claiming they had posted pictures of drugs and guns on Snapchat.
All the calls to Crimestoppers about the student were said to have been made from PC Masum's mobile phone, the jury heard.
Prosecutor William Hughes told the court: "None of the inquiries by South Wales Police backed up the allegations made by Masum. His reports were false, untrue and malicious.
"At the time of these alleged offences Mr Masum was a serving constable in South Wales Police in Gorseinon.
"Innocent members of the public were subject to an upsetting, humiliating and frightening intrusion into their lives by South Wales Police, all as a result of malicious calls from this defendant."
The case is being heard at Cardiff Crown Court
After another call about the student that July - claiming she had shot an Albanian drug dealer and dumped his body in the sea off Rhossili - police arrested PC Masum at his home in Swansea.
They discovered he had also used a police computer to search for information about one of the woman's co-workers.
PC Masum admitted making the calls but maintained the reports were all true and were based on Snapchat videos posted by the student.
He said he felt he needed to report them and claimed she was "trying to intimidate him" in some way.
He also claimed the woman's ex boyfriend had threatened to throw acid in his face, the jury was told.
The trial continues.