Ranting criminal left Facebook message for West Yorkshire officer saying: 'I know where your family is'

Father-of-three Andrew Ward went searching online for the officer involved in a prosecution case against him and his angry, expletive-laden audio messages were played to Leeds Crown Court on Monday afternoon.

Ward was already on a suspended sentence for dangerous driving on a motorbike in the Wakefield area. However, the court heard that the officer from that case is also involved in fresh allegations against Ward, which led him to send the messages on October 16 this year.

During his tirade at the officer, he said: “You have not got no evidence. Do you think I’m f****** stupid? You are a f****** loser mate. You can have your witnesses all you want. You are a f****** moron. You are wasting my time and everyone else’s time.

"I know where your family is. I will beat you in court. I would not turn up if I were you.”

Following his arrest two days later, he admitted during his police interview to sending the messages and said he had ADHD and autism, which was accepted by the court.

However, 29-year-old Ward had previously been interviewed by police in March of this year after he sent 16 threatening text messages to a family-support worker. He called her an “absolute retard”, a “piece of s***” and chillingly warned “check your mirrors sweetheart” when she gets into her car. He later told police he was drunk.

Ward, of Frances Road, Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, admitted a charge of sending malicious communications, intimidating a witness and breach of a suspended sentence order. He was given the nine-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, in April of last year for the motoring offences.

He has been held on remand since his latest arrest in October. Mitigating, Marte Alnaes said he “clearly has issues” with autism but has been receiving little help while behind bars.

She said that before sending the Facebook messages, he had tried to contact the officer, the Crown Prosecution Service and another officer to speak with him but “got nowhere”.

She added: “He got frustrated, acted in a completely inappropriate way and is very sorry for that.” She said he had also suffered several bereavements in recent years that he had struggled with.

He has 16 previous convictions for 46 offences, including dishonesty and the driving matters.

A probation report found that Ward, who restores vehicles for a living, had worked well with probation during the allotted rehabilitation days he received for the driving conviction.

But Judge Mushtaq Khokhar, who had given Ward the suspended sentence last year, reminded him that he was previously warned about committing any further offences, that he would likely face custody.

He told him: “You ascertained the Facebook particulars of the officer. He is someone involved in the criminal justice system. This was not the way to proceed. It was repetition of what you did with the social worker. This goes to the heart of the criminal justice system.”

He activated five months of Ward’s suspended sentence, and gave him in additional 13 months’ jail for the new charges, making a total of 18 months.