A MAN launched a campaign of harassment against Durham Police, comparing himself to notorious gunman Raoul Moat, a court heard.

Daniel Byrne, of Gloucester, was angry after not being notified that his father’s killer – Teesside taxi driver Mohammed Naeem – was about to be sentenced in a court 250 miles away.

Byrne, of Marham Drive, Kingsway, told a Durham Police officer he was going to get a gun and blow peoples’ heads off because he had not been told about Naeem’s court appearance.

The taxi driver mowed down Byrne’s father, John, 69, in Ormesby Road, Middlesbrough, on May 26, 2018.

Naeem, 29, was jailed for three years for causing death by dangerous driving on July 22 last year.

On Thursday, Cheltenham Magistrates Court heard Byrne had phoned a Durham police family liaison officer who was on his way to Teesside Crown Court for the hearing and made “vile and unprovoked allegations” against him before starting a Facebook campaign of abuse of members of the constabulary.

The 39-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of making abusive phone calls, one of harassment and one of possessing cannabis.

Prosecutor Graham Dono said Byrne had phoned a call handler at Durham Police and had become agitated.

He told the call handler: “If they had done that to me, imagine what I’ll do. I’ll tell you what I’ll do, you know what I mean. Imagine people like Roald Moat, the man who shot a police officer in Northumbria, what did it take to club them? Imagine how twisted I’d be in the same position.

“I’m not saying I am going to get a shotgun and shoot your police officer in the face. I am saying they have kept me away from court when my father’s killer is appearing in court.

“I can tell you how people like him exist. Ultimately the force has stopped me from going to my father’s court case.

The court heard that the call handler advised Byrne to contact the court directly but he wasn’t satisfied by this.

Byrne responded: “I’m going to get a gun now and go straight to each one of the houses and blow their heads off.”

The call handler said he felt “harassed, alarmed and distressed” by Byrne’s comments - and the reference to Raoul Moat, who shot three people with a sawn off shotgun, killing one, was particularly distressing.

On the same day, he also called a family liaison officer and made “vile and unprovoked allegations”.

And in July, he started posting offensive messages on the Durham Constabulary’s Facebook site, which included "Two constables covered up Islamic terrorist murder of my father this week" and named the officers.

Mr Dono added: “At the end of Byrne’s rant there was a link to his own web page in which he stated that Durham Constabulary had ‘stolen justice from him’ and added ‘I haven’t even been asked to do a victim impact statement.’

“On his web page there were also images of the police constables. Under one picture it stated ‘This Pc helped cover up the terrorist murder of my father, altered witness statements and even tried to convince me that my father was suicidal. Karma will catch up with you.”

Byrne was arrested by Gloucester Police on July 29, and found to be in possession of a large amount of cannabis.

Byrne, who was not legally represented in court, apologised to the two officers for what he had said and explained that his medication for diabetes had made him angry.

He said: “The circumstances were that my son had just died. My father had been killed just two months later. I just wanted to be treated fairly by Durham Constabulary.

“I was not angry at the call handler. I was just angry at the situation. I just wanted to go to court to see justice being done.

“I posted my concerns on Facebook as my complaint was not being dealt with. I put it on my website because I wanted the public to see.”

Sharon Bathurst, chairman of the magistrates, said to Byrne: “You’ve made a lot of serious allegations.

“But we are not in a position to pass sentence on you at present. We are adjourning the hearing so as pre-sentence reports can be prepared.”

The court was told Durham Police are asking for a restraining order banning Byrne from contacting the force except for an emergency.

Byrne was released on bail until he is sentenced on March 23.