High Wycombe man 'sent picture of bullet to 16-year-old in campaign of harassment against family'

Prosecutors said Hassan Azam, of Desborough Park Road, had embarked on a campaign of threats and harassment against one family, which had taken him in when he was homeless. He started the campaign because he was angry that his girlfriend had found out about his new lover, the jury was told.

In a series of texts and WhatsApp messages, the 23-year-old had warned that he had posted the family’s address on Facebook and information which would incite vigilantes to carry out a revenge attack against the mother-of-four who was the complainant in the trial, the jury heard.

Peter Walsh, prosecuting, said Azam had sent a picture of a bullet to the woman’s 16-year-old son with a threatening message and told the mother he would kill her 12-year-old daughter, as well as texting the girl herself.

Taking the witness stand, the 12-year-old daughter told the court: “He was texting me, saying rude stuff like go f... your mum and all that. They were really rude messages so it didn’t feel nice. He was talking about my family.”

Mr Walsh told the jury of eight men and four women at Aylesbury Crown Court: “The defendant is accused of waging a campaign of threats and abuse against a particular family.

“The police became involved and arrived at the defendant’s home address on August 1 last year. The final event, it seems, was the breaking of a car window late at night outside the family’s home address.

“The police asked him if he had a mobile phone - everyone has a mobile phone these days, as you’ll appreciate - but the defendant’s answer, surprisingly, was no, he didn’t have a mobile phone.

“The police officer then rang the number from which all these messages came and the phone started vibrating inside the draw of the defendant’s bedroom cabinet in his bedroom.”

When police quizzed him on the buzzing phone in interview at Aylesbury police station, Azam claimed it was not his and he had lost his phone at a carnival in June last year but had not replaced it. The defendant had added he had not had any contact with the family for a number of months.

Mr Walsh added: “He then became aggressive with the interviewing officer and had to be calmed down. He started shouting that he was going to leave the interview. The interview shortly after was concluded.”

The court heard Azam had moved in with the family at their home in Aylesbury for two weeks when he did not want to stay at his parents’ home in High Wycombe but had to leave because the female complainant's father became extremely ill and had to go into hospital.

Azam had got to know the family over the course of eight years prior to the alleged offences after he befriended the eldest son at a skills centre, and their relationship had been cordial until he became embroiled in a tense love triangle with a woman called Natalie Curtis and another known only as Seema.

The jury was told that Seema used to call the complainant and demand to know whether Azam was seeing anybody else, while Azam secretly listened in on a three way call, unbeknown to the complainant. The complainant’s 17-year-old son came into the room and "piped up" to say that Azam was seeing Ms Curtis during one of these phone calls.

Mr Walsh said: “It is quite obvious that that enraged the defendant and he began this campaign of threats and abuse against the family.”

Speaking from behind a screen, the mother complainant was asked whether she felt threatened when she received messages like: “Police can lock the locks, can’t stop the clock, I’ll be out one day and I’ll come for you.”

The mother, who broke down in tears while listening to the abusive messages, allegedly sent by Azam, said: “People say they are gonna do things, but never do, but you never know, do you? When he says he was going to kill my daughter, of course there is a threat.”

Bearded Azam denied causing criminal damage, harassment and sending offensive communications.

The trial, presided over by Judge Francis Sheridan, continues.