High Court Proceedings Forces Police to Admit Unlawful Decision

Police Admit Unlawful Decision After Man Who Threatened Campaigner and Claimed He Was “Pissing on Your Mum’s Grave” Was Given Caution

Greater Manchester Police have admitted in the High Court that their decision to resolve a sustained campaign of threats, impersonation and hate based abuse against campaigner Raja Miah MBE through a conditional caution was unlawful.

The case involves a man who sent messages saying he would “smash your fucking ugly shit face in” and claimed he had been “pissing on your mum’s grave every day”.

The individual responsible had created a fake Facebook account impersonating Mr Miah, using his name, photograph and personal details while hiding behind a VPN in an attempt to evade identification.

In documents filed before the Administrative Court in Manchester, Greater Manchester Police accepted that the conditional caution was issued in breach of a mandatory statutory duty to consult the victim under section 23ZA of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and invited the court to quash the decision so that a fresh decision can be taken.

The case concerns a prolonged campaign of online abuse, threats and impersonation carried out against Mr Miah over a period of more than a year.

In court filings, Mr Miah set out that the offender operated a fake Facebook account using Mr Miah’s name, photograph and personal details, including reference to his MBE, while hiding behind a VPN in an effort to evade identification.

The account published fabricated statements designed to cause alarm, distress and reputational damage and to incite hostility and violence towards him.

The campaign escalated into repeated threats and abusive messages directed at Mr Miah. Among the messages sent to him were statements including:

“Don’t worry Raja, when I see you, I will smash your fucking ugly shit face in.”

“Let’s meet in Chadderton cemetery on your mum’s grave. I’ve been pissing on it every day.”

Other messages repeatedly referred to Mr Miah using sexualised and homophobic slurs and falsely labelled him a:

“nonce”and “pedo”.

Alongside these threats, the offender created fake posts impersonating Mr Miah and publishing fabricated statements portraying him as a criminal and sexual offender in an apparent attempt to destroy his reputation and incite hostility against him.

The campaign also included sexualised references involving his six year old niece, fabricated allegations that his nephew had been convicted of child sex offences (the truth is he is aged nine years old) and the publication of Mr Miah’s sister’s home address. Mr Miah is clear that this conduct of expanding the hate campaign placed his family at risk.

Mr Miah said the abuse had a profound impact on him and his family.

“For more than a year my family and I were subjected to a relentless campaign of abuse, threats and impersonation,” he said.

“The individual responsible called me a ‘nonce’ and a ‘pedo’, threatened to smash my face in, and even claimed he was ‘pissing on my mother’s grave every day’.”

“He also created fake posts pretending to be me and publishing fabricated statements designed to not only destroy my reputation, but also to incite violence against me and my family.”

“He even circulated posts falsely claiming I was sexually abusing children.”

“This was not a one off incident. It was a sustained and malicious campaign carried out over more than a year, where the offender hid his identity behind a VPN so as to avoid identification.”

Despite the seriousness and persistence of the offending, Greater Manchester Police initially refused to investigate the matter, allowing the abuse to escalate. It was only after Mr Miah submitted a formal complaint that the force took steps to identify the individual responsible.

Even after identifying the suspect, Greater Manchester Police chose not to charge him and refused to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for an independent charging decision. Instead, the force issued a conditional caution, an out of court disposal normally used for relatively low level offending.

That caution was issued without consulting the victim, a decision Greater Manchester Police have now admitted in the High Court was unlawful.

Mr Miah argues that the conduct, including threats of violence, sexualised and homophobic abuse, impersonation, defamatory allegations of child abuse and a sustained campaign of harassment conducted behind a VPN, should have been considered for prosecution. He says potential offences include stalking and malicious communications, and that the hate based abuse should have been considered as an aggravating factor.

Mr Miah also argues that Greater Manchester Police failed to properly apply their own internal decision making framework when deciding how to dispose of the case.

Under GMP’s Adult Gravity Factors Matrix, officers are required to assess the seriousness of offending by identifying aggravating factors such as targeting of a victim, sustained conduct, use of technology to commit the offence, hate based hostility and the level of fear or distress caused.

Despite acknowledging that the offender posted threats of violence, malicious communication and homophobic abuse, the officer responsible recorded that “none of the aggravating factors were met” before issuing the conditional caution.

Mr Miah says that conclusion is impossible to reconcile with the admitted facts of the case, which involved a sustained campaign of impersonation, threats, hate based abuse, sexualised smears and the publication of a family member’s home address following fabricated allegations of child sexual abuse.

Mr Miah said the abuse campaign did not occur in isolation and that the individual responsible had connections within political circles in Oldham.

He said the abuse and false allegations were amplified by individuals connected to local political networks, with material from the fake accounts being circulated and interacted with on social media.

Mr Miah said this raised serious concerns about whether the case had been handled impartially.

“The individual responsible for this campaign did not operate in a vacuum,” he said.

The abuse and false allegations were circulated within political circles in Oldham and were openly supported by a number of Pakistani councillors in the town.

One councillor, Marc Hince, a key member of Arooj Shah’s coalition even went further and openly encouraged the offender.

"These are clearly people who should have known better."

“That raises serious questions about whether political relationships influenced how this case was handled.”

“The police initially refused to investigate, Why?” Mr Miah asks.

“When they finally did identify the individual responsible, they refused to charge him and even declined to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service. It has taken proceedings in the High Court simply to force the police to admit that the decision they made was unlawful.”

Mr Miah said he now awaits to see whether Greater Manchester Police will finally take the correct course of action following their admission in the High Court that the decision to issue the conditional caution was unlawful.

“I now await to see whether Greater Manchester Police will finally make the right decision and apply the law without fear or favour,” he said.

“This was not a minor disagreement online. It was a sustained campaign of impersonation, threats of violence, sexualised and homophobic abuse and the circulation of false allegations that I was sexually abusing children.”

“The individual responsible threatened to smash my fucking ugly shit face in, claimed he had been pissing on my mother’s grave every day, and created fake posts pretending to be me in an attempt to incite violence and destroy my reputation. He then went on to target my family including my 6 year old niece and my 9 year old nephew.”

“Despite the seriousness of that conduct, Greater Manchester Police initially refused to investigate the matter, later refused to charge the offender, and even declined to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for an independent charging decision.”

“It should not require proceedings in the High Court simply to force the police to admit that their decision was unlawful and invite the court to quash it.”

“The law must be applied without fear or favour. Political connections should never shield individuals from accountability.”

“We have already seen the consequences when the police protected members of the rape gangs because of their political links. It is deeply troubling that similar failures are allowed to repeat themselves here.”

“I now await to see whether Greater Manchester Police will finally take the proper course of action, or whether this case will once again raise serious concerns that individuals with political connections in Oldham are being protected from proper accountability.”

I’m Raja Miah MBE. For seven years, I led a campaign that exposed how senior Labour politicians helped protect Pakistani rape gangs. The people of my town helped force the national inquiry.

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