A “naive” man who sent a chilling fake human trafficking text to police in a desperate bid to frame a fellow Cumbrian market trader has been jailed – almost seven years after he failed to show at court and became a fugitive.
Dutch cheese seller Branco Van-Wissen, 31, took drastic steps in June, 2014, after a major fallout with a flower stall holder and compatriot he felt was “intimidating, menacing” and subjecting him to a “campaign of abuse and terror”.
Van-Wissen, then aged 25, sent a text to police which named a couple he knew and purported, falsely, to show they were the victims of modern slavery and being held captive in a vehicle at the continental market in Whitehaven.
“He promised to kill my girlfriend if we call,” the message stated. “Please help. We want escape but no chance.”
After that message was picked up by a south of England force, officers swooped on the market and arrested two men. “A lorry was searched and nobody was inside,” prosecutor Clare Thomas told Carlisle Crown Court.
“The enquiry 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.”
When quizzed, Van-Wissen initially denied sending the message and wasting police time. But police found a receipt for the Tesco-bought SIM card in his van, uncovered CCTV which showed him buying it and seized the plastic card surround from his stall.
When Van Wissen, of Herveld, Holland, failed to appear in front of a judge in September, 2014, arrest warrants were issued. He was detained late last year, extradited to the UK and finally brought to court, where he admitted doing an act tending or intended to pervert the course of justice.
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.
“He knew the two men that had been arrested and he certainly didn’t intend for them to be arrested and detained for hours on end, and for that he is truly sorry,” added Ms Mushtaq.
“He is indeed sorry that the police have had to waste a great deal of time investigating this matter.”
Jailing Van-Wissen for 18 months, Judge Nicholas Barker said: “The nature of that text message that was sent by you was alarming. It was designed by you to be alarming, and to cause the police to act.”
