PC Amar Hussain jailed for false terror kidnap claim Published duration 27 May 2016

image copyright West Midlands Police image caption Amar Tasaddiq Hussain was "the last person" who ought to be serving with the police, the judge said

A policeman who claimed terrorists were going to kidnap a fellow officer has been jailed for seven years.

Amar Tasaddiq Hussain, 29, made a hoax 999 call in which he claimed an officer with the West Midlands force would be abducted by a radical Muslim with links to the so-called Islamic State.

As a result, all officers had to call in to report they had got home safely and an innocent man was arrested.

The false call was made because of a personal grudge held by Hussain.

His aim was to discredit an official within Dawat-E-Islami, a peaceful Muslim prayer group.

At Stafford Crown Court, Judge Michael Chambers QC criticised the officer of seven years, from Yardley, Birmingham, for showing no remorse and pleading not guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence.

media caption PC 'sparked bogus IS kidnap alert'

He is currently suspended from the force and will face disciplinary proceedings.

Two other Birmingham men, unemployed Adil Bashir, 26, and 31-year-old tutor Muhammed Ali Sheikh, were convicted of the same charges of perverting the course of justice and were each sentenced to three years in prison.

'Immense anxiety'

Judge Chambers told Hussain he was the last person who ought to be serving with the police and said that he had been the instigator of the offences - with the other two men playing lesser roles.

"The three of you plotted to falsely incriminate an innocent man with being involved in serious criminal offences," he said.

image copyright West Midlands Police image caption Adil Bashir and Muhammed Ali Sheikh plotted to falsely incriminate an innocent man, the judge said

The innocent man named in the hoax was questioned over two days on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, causing him immense personal anxiety, the judge said.

The men's trial had heard how, in an unprecedented move, all on the West Midlands force had to call in to report getting home safely due to the threat, which was made on 8 December 2014.

A hostage negotiator was put on standby and armed police went to the home of an officer who did not answer an emergency roll-call.

West Midlands Police said the hoax call "sparked an unprecedented police response and subsequent investigation which led to a suspect being arrested within 24 hours by counter-terrorism detectives.

"The call came at a time when the national terrorism threat level was severe."

The Police Federation said the effect of the call was "widespread and long lasting" and affected all employees and their families.

Hussain had tried to access police logs created following a call made in September and the kidnap call in December. Expert voice analysis of those calls to police revealed they were made by Bashir and Hussain respectively.