JAILED: Admin clerk forged job letter for man facing firearms offences
An admin clerk for a recruitment agency, who fraudulently wrote a job acceptance letter for a man facing firearm offences in an effort to help influence his bail application, has been jailed.
Stacey Candelent used her position at the Birmingham-based agency to offer employment to Usman Hussain, aged 31 from Sheldon. Hussain had been remanded into custody for gun possession and was awaiting trial. The letter falsely claimed he had an offer of employment at a courier company in Coleshill.
Candelent, aged 25 from Anne Grove, Tipton, was asked to write the letter by her friend, Hussain's wife Seleena Hussain from Brays Road, Sheldon.
Candelent at the time was also in a relationship with Usman Hussain's brother.
Both Candelent and Seleena Hussain were charged with perverting the course of justice. Candelent was jailed for nine months and Hussain was sentenced to 18 months in prison following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
The court heard that Candelent received a call from Hussain asking her to produce a letter confirming her husband had been offered a job.
She sent the letter the following day together with a detailed form, which was then used in the defendant's bail application.
Officers checked with the company who confirmed that the offer of employment was not genuine and further enquiries revealed an employee Stacey Candelent was responsible. Candelent admitted it was not her role to produce such letters and was dismissed for gross misconduct.
The bail application for Hussain was withdrawn the same day.
In January 2015, Candelent and Hussain were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and later charged.
Usman Hussain later pleaded guilty to firearm offences after he was stopped with two others in a car and officers recovered a gun and ammunition. He is now serving a lengthy custodial sentence.
Detective Chief Inspector Simon Wallis, from Force CID, said: "Both these girls interfered with a very serious trial concerning the unlawful supply of guns to be used in armed crime conflict. The matter had nothing to do with them. They contrived between them to present to court a false job offer for one of the men awaiting trial in the hope it would have got him out of jail until his trial.
"The seriousness of interfering with justice cannot be underestimated. Both these women have earned themselves life changing consequences. I can only hope these sentences will serve as a warning to all. "
