A man has admitted sending a false text message to police – nearly seven years after he was due to appear in court to answer the charge.
Dutch national Branco Van-Wissen, 31, was supposed to have appeared before a Carlisle Crown Court judge in September, 2014.
Van-Wissen had been charged with doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice on June 21 of that year having sent a false text message to police which resulted in the arrest of two men. The offence is said to relate to the Whitehaven area.
When he failed to show in court, a warrant for his arrest was issued.
And, after a gap of six years and seven months, Van-Wissen pleaded guilty to the charge when he finally appeared in the crown court dock at lunchtime today.
Van-Wissen was said to have spent a period in detention prior to being extradited to the UK yesterday. “Having been in Holland for most of – if not all – of that time,” revealed his lawyer, Erim Mushtaq.
No pre-sentence report was requested, but Judge Nicholas Barker said he was unable to pass a punishment immediately due to a lack of court time. Van-Wissen, whose address was given as Schoolstraat, in the village of Herveld, Holland, was remanded in custody and told by the judge he is likely to receive his sentence at the crown court next week.
“You have been well aware this matter has existed for many years. Of course, matters have been ongoing in Holland through the extradition process,” Judge Barker told him.
