A family was arrested at gunpoint during tea when armed police responded to a hoax kidnapping call.
The unnamed family were sat at home last December 30 when they noticed blue lights outside on Denton Road, Newcastle.
One of them ‘opened the door to find an officer pointing a firearm at him and telling him to get down’, Omar Ahmad, prosecuting, told the court.
Police arrested four people in the presence two young children, one of whom – an 11-year-old boy – burst into tears.
They were searching for balaclava-clad kidnappers armed with a machete who Ricki Kendall, aka Curry, had reported to have seen dragging a man into the house.
But the whole thing was a sham. Mr Ahmad said: ‘It soon transpired the defendant had completely fabricated the report he had made to the police.
‘The police said 72 hours of police time were wasted and the total cost was £4,140.’
Extensive CCTV inquiries churned up no footage to back up Kendall’s tale.
Officers found no weapons in the house, and no one else reported the incident, despite Kendall doubling down with a description in his statement to police.
But the damage was already done. Family members spent 15 hours in custody, and news of the raid was plastered over social media and the news.
In a victim impact statement, one family member said: ‘Ever since this, I’ve not been the same in myself.
‘Seeing the incident in the paper and on social media has impacted on me. I saw comments like get them off the streets and other racial slurs.
‘All my family were doing was having tea. I’m frustrated and upset someone would do this.’
Another said: ‘I’ve never been in a police station before, let alone arrested. I was taken away from my family for something I’ve not done.
‘My 11-year-old brother witnessed it and was crying and distressed. I don’t know why someone reported I kidnapped someone. I want to know why someone would do this to us.’
A third said: ‘Every time I hear sirens I get flashbacks. I don’t know why anyone would do this
‘The furniture in my home was damaged by the police.’
Mr Kendall, 30, of Valley View, Lemington, Newcastle, admitted a charge of perverting the course of justice.
He also pleaded guilty to robbery after stealing £110 of a taxi driver’s takings at knife-point while on bail for the perverting justice offence.
Mr Kendall, who has 39 previous convictions, was jailed for a total of 53 months for the two offences.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Andrew Stubbs KC said: ‘You were in a mental health crisis. You were making calls to the emergency services and they weren’t doing what you wanted them to do so you decided to make up a really serious allegation, saying someone had been kidnapped or assaulted and taken into a house.
‘Several firearms officers attended that house and arrested people and they were locked up for 15 hours and you wasted, effectively nine days of police time, involving firearms officers who have far better things to do.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
