Crimestoppers: PC not obsessed with woman he reported for gun crime, court told

PC Abubakar Masum called Crimestoppers alleging the student was involved with drug and gun crimes

A police officer accused of falsely reporting a student was in a gang after their friendship cooled has told a court he was not obsessed with her.

PC Abubakar Masum, of Swansea, told Cardiff Crown Court he had seen photos and videos of the woman on Snapchat relating to guns and drugs.

He said he thought it "appropriate at the time" to tell Crimestoppers rather than South Wales Police colleagues.

He denies two counts of perverting the course of public justice.

He also denies securing unauthorised access to police computer material.

PC Masum made a series of calls to Crimestoppers during the months after his relationship with the Swansea University student had cooled.

The pair had briefly been on the same university course and had been friends on Snapchat, although had only met in person on three separate occasions, PC Masum said.

He added he was attracted to the woman, but had a girlfriend at the time.

The case is being heard at Cardiff Crown Court

When asked by Graham Trembath, defending, if he was obsessed with the student, he said: "Absolutely not. For a female that I've only met three times I don't thing it's physically possible to be that obsessed."

He said there had been "no bad blood" between him and the woman, adding: "I had a career right in front of me. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardise that.

"I had seen these videos. I was concerned so I had to act on it really. If I didn't do anything I would've been in a lot more trouble."

In calls to Crimestoppers, he claimed she had hidden a gun in the back garden of her shared house, sold cocaine, was involved in a plot to kill a man in a drug dispute and had shot an Albanian drug dealer in the leg before dumping his body in the sea.

He claimed he had seen evidence of this in photos and videos on Snapchat, but did not take any screenshots of the material and was unaware of how many other people had seen the material.

Inaccuracies in reports

But PC Masum said there were some inaccuracies with some of the recorded information of the reports he made to Crimestoppers.

One of which related to a report in February 2020, in which PC Masum called Crimestoppers about being assaulted by the woman's ex-boyfriend in a nightclub in Swansea.

The report from Crimestoppers of the report said PC Masum had claimed the man who attacked him was planning to return to Swansea to throw acid in his face, which he denied saying in court.

He told the court there were other errors in subsequent calls relating to details of what he said and what was recorded by Crimestoppers.

The woman was studying criminology at Swansea University and was interested in joining the police when she met PC Masum

Cross-examining PC Masum, prosecutor William Hughes asked why he continued to report incidents to the anonymous service rather than going to colleagues in South Wales Police, particularly after reporting a murder had taken place.

He said: "The information still gets passed on to the police I didn't know if it was true or not true. And that's my duty to pass that information and that's exactly what I have done."

He added he did not have a good relationship with senior officers or the police federation, which is why he continued to pass on information to Crimestoppers, and that he did not want to get "caught up" in the aftermath.

The trial previously heard the woman's house was raided by about 20 armed officers and she was questioned by officers at the Tesco where she worked. Nothing was found.

The trial continues.