Hartlepool man set up fake Facebook account and made hoax bomb threats to Cleveland Police in revenge campaign

Martin Richardson was behind a “sophisticated and determined” campaign of false claims against the victim after they fell out.

He threatened to bomb Hartlepool Police Station and Hartlepool Civic Centre.

Richardson also set up a fake Facebook account in the victim’s name which he used to send vile messages to four Hartlepool police officers.

They including threats to slit one of their throats and to rape of one of their children.

Claiming to be his former friend in a series of 999 video calls, Richardson, who is deaf, made a number of false confessions including to the murder of Scott Fletcher, who has been missing since 2011.

Teesside Crown Court heard it was all with the aim of “bringing trouble” to the innocent person’s door and resulted in the man being arrested and held more than once.

Prosecutor Sam Faulks, said Richardson “embarked on a campaign of misinformation and slander” in his obsession with the victim after their falling out.

He made 15 calls to police between the end of last November and early January.

Mr Faulks said: “He confessed to a murder and that he had buried the body of someone called Scott Fletcher.

"He confessed to wanting to bomb the police station and the civic centre in Hartlepool.”

Richardson, 31, also claimed to have stabbed his landlord and been looking at indecent images of children.

He went on to message four Hartlepool police officers through the fake Facebook profile and alarmingly in one sent a picture of the officer’s young daughter together with a rape threat.

Richardson denied being responsible although evidence he was behind the messages was found on his mobile phone.

He admitted two counts of doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard the innocent victim had to move house and his mental health suffered significantly as a result.

In mitigation for Richardson, it was said he has a disorder or learning disability going back to difficulties he faced at school.

He had reflected on his behaviour in prison while awaiting sentence and was sorry for what happened.

Judge Chris Smith sentenced Richardson, of Raby Gardens, Hartlepool, to 37 months in prison.