Hoax caller jailed after claiming four people had been shot on train to Wolverhampton

A persistent hoax caller, described as being “very vulnerable”, has been jailed for 16 months.

Tehfoor Javeed called 999 to say a man on a train approaching Wolverhampton station had a gun and had already shot four people – causing the busy station to be evacuated.

The 22-year-old, of Victoria Avenue in Wellington, was sentenced after making six hoax crime reports to police since January.

He also entered Telford town centre bus station three times in April, totalling nine breaches of a criminal behaviour order he was given in 2015 for malicious communications.

Miss Sati Ruck, prosecuting, told Shrewsbury Crown Court that on three days in April he walked into the Telford bus station alone, which was explicitly forbidden under the terms of his order, and on two of those occasions he harassed a security guard.

Before that, on January 11, he reported that he was being blackmailed and would be shot.

On February 15 he reported again that he was in danger of being killed.

On other occasions he claimed he had found dead bodies in a bathtub, and on another that a man he knew was involved in making bombs and wanted to join the terrorist group Isis.

Then on May 13 he reported the same man three times for driving while drunk and under the influence of cannabis.

The court heard that police call handlers recognised Javeed’s voice or writing style so they did not follow the calls up.

He was arrested days later but while out on bail he rang British Transport Police and told them a man on a train heading from Telford to Wolverhampton had a gun and had shot four people.

Because of the seriousness of the report, Wolverhampton train station was evacuated and police, including armed officers, were deployed.

The court heard that since 2013, Javeed has 19 convictions relating to making false emergency calls and wasting police time, and that he has breached his criminal order 26 times.

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, for Javeed, said his severe learning difficulties meant he did not fully understand the significance of the hoax calls, and that his time in jail while waiting to be sentenced would hopefully make it more likely he would comply with the court’s orders in future.

He said the "very vulnerable" Javeed had been bullied in prison.

Sentencing him, Judge Jonathon Gosling said: “Different courts have tried to control his behaviour with no success.

"It is a frankly extraordinary case.

“Imprisonment is a blunt instrument but it is the only way this defendant will recognise the seriousness of these offences.”