Blackburn woman pretended to be officer to genuine police

Ashiya Hussain, 34, was jailed for four months at Preston Magistrates’ Court in October after pleading guilty to impersonating a police officer and having two months of the previous suspended sentence activated.

Hussain, of Pleasington Lane, Blackburn, received a six-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months last year after she allowed her Bully Kutta Mastiff dog named Bruno to savagely attack a 60-year-old woman.

At the time of this new offence, which took place on August 23, Hussain, a mother of five, was still within the active period of the suspended sentence for the dangerous dog offence.

On that day, Hussain attended an address in Hawkshurst Road, Preston, at approximately 5.30pm having supposedly traced inappropriate images of a member of her family being sent from that house.

When the occupant opened the door, Hussain introduced herself as a police officer and was invited in to sit in the living room.

Ashiya Hussain (Image: NQ) Ellie McManus, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said Hussain told the people in the house numerous times that she was a police officer and said things such as “this is a very serious offence” and “come out with the truth or the lads outside will deal with you.”

Ms McManus also said Hussain pretended to make a phone call to another police officer, saying “get a van here, he doesn’t want to come out with the truth” and “order the riot van so he can be arrested.”

An occupant of the house then rang the ‘real’ police who attended the house, and Hussain continued the charade with them, saying words to the effect of ‘I’m a police officer, I know the protocol, he is willing to be arrested and needs to be arrested.’

In a further chat with another real officer who attended, Hussain explained how she had ‘just finished work’ and said she was a ‘colleague from down Blackburn and Southport.’

After that, it was quickly ascertained she was not a police officer, which she later admitted.

When interviewed by the police, Hussain said she never told anyone there she was a police officer and only wanted the photos deleted. She instead said she had told them she worked for a charity.

READ MORE: Owner of dangerous dog which left woman with life-changing injuries avoids jail

Once she was shown clips from the police body-cam footage that disproved this, Hussain said she did not mean to say the word ‘constable.’

Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe, mitigating for Hussain, said that from the defendant’s perspective, she had good reason to be going to the house, but in reality there was no excuse and it’s something she “deeply regrets.”

Hussain had spent 10 days in custody already by the time of this hearing on October 31, but it was also Ms Devans-Tamakloe’s submission that probation were willing to work with Hussain if she was released from prison.

Judge Richard Gioserano, sitting alongside magistrates Kevin Maher and Joyce Frost, said this was a “serious offence of its kind” and “the appellant not only decided to take the law into her own hands but decided to pretend to be the law whilst doing so.”

However, the judge and the magistrates felt that Hussain was able to work with probation and instead suspended the two-month sentence imposed for impersonating a police officer for a period of 12 months, and she will have to complete 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days and complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

READ MORE: Dangerous dog which savaged Blackburn woman to be destroyed

Judge Gioserano said: “If at any time she feels it’s difficult [the unpaid work] she should reflect on the fact that, firstly, it’s supposed to be difficult and, secondly, the alternative is Styal prison.”

Hussain remains subject to the suspended sentence order for the dangerous dog offence committed last year, in which her dog, Bruno, savagely attacked a woman on January 12, 2022.

In the two years since the attack, Hussain continued to deny the charge of being the owner of a bully kutta mastiff that was dangerously out of control causing injury to another.

During a hearing at Preston Crown Court in April, Judge Guy Mathieson refused to accept an application to adjourn the appeal hearing.

He then refused to uphold the appeal against the destruction of the dog saying the time spent on the case was “not a proper use of public funds.”

Before the dog was destroyed, Bruno was kept in kennels by the police at an estimated cost of £25 per day, totalling more than £18,000, not including vet bills, food, and transportation.