False Police Reports Sentencing

[Carolhunt]

A friend of mine has done some really dumb things.
He has made about 20 false reports to the police and the police has acted on some of them. The first three the police acted on were stopping a car using a tpac which involed 4 police cars and 8 officers and took about 45minutes each time. Plus another 3 stops on foot with 3 officers involed each time but these were armed police.
He has also made a statment to the police for harassment. Which they are looking in to.
All these reports are false and now he is getting worried that they will catch him and i am trying to find out what sort of sentence he would be looking at.

[Buenchico]

Wasting police time (contrary to Section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1967) is a 'summary only' offence. That means that there's a 6 month time limit (from the date that a false report was made to the police) for proceeding to start and the matter can only be dealt with in a Magistrates Court (not a Crown Court). After the 6 month period is up no proceedings can be commenced against an (alleged) offender.

Wasting police time can be dealt with by a £90 fixed penalty or, when dealt with in a Magistrates Court, can lead to a fine of up to £2500 and/or 6 months imprisonment.

However the Crown Prosecution Service might also consider whether a prosecution for perverting the course of justice might be more appropriate. The chances of that happening are increased if
(a) a false accusation was motivated by malice ;
(b) the false complaint was sustained over a period of time, even though the complainant had opportunities to retract his statement ;
(c) a false accusation resulted in someone being charged and remanded in custody ;
(d) a false accusation resulted in someone being convicted before a court ;
(e) the person who made the false report had a history of making such reports ;
(f) a false accusation caused serious damage to someone's reputation ; or
(g) a false accusation was made against a vulnerable person or a person who had been taken advantage of.

Perverting the course of justice is 'indictable only', meaning that it can only be dealt with in a Crown Court and there's no time limit for the start of proceedings. A conviction for perverting the course of justice nearly always leads to a lengthy prison sentence and the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.

If the false reports were simply that a crime had been committed (but without naming a specific person as an offender,or pointing the police towards such a person) the Crown Prosecution Service would probably charge your friend with 'wasting police time'. However if your friend's reports were deliberately 'trying to drop someone in it' then it's likely that he'd be charged with 'perverting the course of justice'. As I've indicated, the choice of charge makes a BIG difference!

[New Judge]

You need to ask the question again when you know what he has been charged with.

[Peter Pedant]

you have made a lot of assumptions
like they are false - and not just a porky from your fren' - does he say also he is an undercover CIA man ?

that it all occurred - if you were there for one armed stop - presumably you ducked behind a garden wall.

that the police are at all interested....

with all the allegations made against me - including child molesting - the police were completely uninterested when I showed CCJs against my various ex-tenant accusers.....

anyway tell him to keep quiet for chrissakes
dont make any more telephone calls
and wait - reflecting on the unwisdom of his course of action

[Carolhunt]

Thanks for the info.
Reading your answers i think he might get done for wasting police time as it has not affected anyone else he was just making false reports about himself for the attention from the police.