Malicious phone calls

[Andy008]

A colleague of mine has been harassed by two former school friends of his son, who have made numerous threatening and obscene calls to him and his wife. They are both 15. They have been charged, and I believe they both have previous records. What offence will they have been charged with (and under what legislation?), and what punishment can they expect?

[THECORBYLOON]

From the CPS site

"Improper Use of Telecommunications System
The Telecommunications Act 1984 Section 43 <Stones 8-24045> covers the sending of improper messages. Section 43(1)(a) relates to a message, etc., that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character and should be used for indecent phone calls. Section 43(1)(b) targets false messages and persistent misuse to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety; it covers somebody who persistently makes silent phone calls (usually covered with only one information because the gravamen is one of persistently telephoning, rendering separate charges for each call unnecessary).

If a message sent is grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing or false it is irrelevant whether it was received. The offence is one of sending, so it is committed where the sending takes place."

No info on punishment but.

[JudgeJ]

They are more likely to have been charged with �Harassment � Conduct causing Harassment� under Section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Magistrates� sentencing guidelines for this offence suggest a Community Penalty as the starting point.

However, since they are �youths� (i.e. under 18 years old) the only disposals open to the youth court are: an Absolute or Conditional Discharge (not available if the offender has received a �final warning� in the past 24 months); a fine � which must be imposed against the parents; or a referral order (which is the most likely means of disposal if a discharge is not appropriate).

With a referral order the youth is referred to �Youth Panel� which investigates the causes behind the offending and its consequences with the offender and his family. A contract is drawn up to include a programme of activities aimed at preventing re-offending.

Custodial sentences and conventional Community Penalties are not available to punish persons under 18 unless they are convicted of a �Grave Offence�. These are generally offences which carry, in the adult court, a maximum sentence of 14 years or more, and certain lesser offences of a sexual nature.

You may also be interested to know that the public (including the victims) are not allowed into youth courts; offenders are referred to by their first names and the atmosphere is deliberately �less intimidating� than an adult court. Those charged must not be publicly identified (except in exceptional circumstances) and the outcome (in terms of sentence) is not made publicly known. So your friend will probably never find out what, if anything, happened to his tormentors anyway.

My personal view is that the manner in which youth courts are conducted (including the punishments available) is one of the great scandals of our time.

[Amz260104]

Punishment-wise, as they are under 18 and depending on what the previous is, they may end up with a DTO - detention training order. Half the sentence is served in a Juvenile establishment where they have to attend compulsary education, half in the community. If not, probably just community service.

[pawsntails]

Without going into the whole law thing, they are guilty of assault and can face jail if your colleague feels threatened by the calls and believes that they will attack him. However if he feels they are all talk and they haven't scared him then its just harrasement.

Depending on the nature of the assault they can face upto a �5,000 fine (or their respective guardians can at least) or upto a 6mth jail term, or anything in between depending on the courts