A 21-year old Huddersfield man has been fined for wasting police time after falsely reporting that he had been robbed at knifepoint.
At 9:20am on Monday the 21-year old contacted police to say that he been robbed earlier that morning while he had been walking through Milnsbridge.
He said that at 6am he had been on Factory Lane when a man wearing a hooded top and a scarf around his face had stolen his mobile phone and £65 after threatening him with a flick knife.
However, the 21-year old’s scam unravelled when an officer phoned the mobile that was alleged to have been stolen, only for it to be answered by the ‘victim’ himself!
Realising that the game was up, the man confessed that his phone clearly hadn’t been stolen and that he had made up the crime purely to get a crime number from police in an attempt to get a crisis loan.
The 21-year old was duly arrested and given an £80 fine for wasting police time.
Sgt Ian Thornes of Huddersfield police said: “Whilst this story sounds ridiculous – even amusing – I cannot stress enough how serious this type of offence is. This man told us that he had been the victim of a knifepoint robbery and we therefore took the report extremely seriously.
“He probably thought that he was in for some quick cash and would easily get a crime number from us to help him get the loan. However, as well as responding to a crime report, we will also make enquiries to establish if a report is genuine or not.
“In this case, once the 21-year old has answered the phone that was meant to have been stolen from him, he quickly confessed to having made the whole thing up and was given an £80 fine for his troubles. I hope this sends a clear message out to anyone who might be thinking of making similar false reports to the police.”
