Ryan Ferguson, 25, who described himself as a “far-right journalist” during his interview with Merseyside Police, has 20 previous convictions including a nine-month sentence for racial abuse
A self-proclaimed “far-right journalist” contacted police three times for his “protection” before being handcuffed and hauled into custody himself.
In November last year, Ryan Ferguson, 25, who has 20 previous convictions, called 911 three times to report an incident involving a fight between three men.
Merseyside Police attended the scene, but found the only person acting in an aggressive manner to be Ferguson himself. By the third call, officers recognised his number and decided not to send anyone out to the fake report. It comes after teenage thugs beat rough sleeper to death and laughed as he lay in street.
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On Monday, Liverpool Magistrates’ Court said Ferguson had created a “fictitious incident to spark a significant response from the police”, reports the ECHO.
Anthony Carey, prosecuting, explained how four officers carried out an “intense search” and enquiries with residents after the first call, but quickly learned nothing had happened. Two days passed before they received the second and third calls. All of the calls were relating to the fictitious fight between three men.
The court heard the defendant was arrested at his hostel on November 15. Two phones were recovered from his room. He pointed to one and said “that is the phone I used to make the calls”, before giving officers the PIN number.
The defendant later gave a no comment interview, but did confirm he was “a football hooligan and a far-right journalist”.
Mr Carey said the defendant had 20 previous convictions for 29 offences, the most recent being a sentence of 12 weeks in May 2024 for sending malicious communications.
James Lefroy, defending, told the court that the case was “very unusual and unique” as the prosecution had asked for a custodial sentence. He said the offences took place nine months ago and the defendant had no been in further trouble.
He said a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service had “exclusively discussed Mr Ferguson’s politics and made plain they do not think fondly of his views”. Mr Lefroy added: “I personally hold closer views to hers than Mr Ferguson’s, but we are not here to pass judgments on people’s politics and what they say or do.”
He told the court the defendant finds himself the subject of abuse because of his political views and “called the police for his protection”. However, the defence solicitor added that Ferguson accepted the “perpetrators were not in the same location” so pleaded guilty to the charges.
Mr Lefroy told the court: ” [He] has views but is not so closed that he is not willing to discuss or engage with the subject. He has met ex-members of the far-right and is interested in that and is open to discussion. It seems his views are moderating and he has been out of trouble for the past eight months.
“He is clearly a man with issues. We only send people to prison if we need to do so. He needs to understand why his views need to be moderated. It’s perfectly right to hold political views but he needs to know to deal with them in a constructive way.”
Ferguson previously pleaded guilty to three counts of causing wasteful employment of police and was committed to the court for sentencing.
Peter Mawdsley, chair of the bench of magistrates which presided over the case, told Ferguson that the offences before the court were “very serious”. He added: “These offences show that you gave a description of a fictitious incident to spark a significant response from the police.”
The chair added the bench deemed the offences to cause a high risk of serious harm to the wider public because the allocation of police resources would have been taken away from other incidents. Ferguson, who wore a white shirt and sported short brown hair, was sentenced to 17 weeks’ immediate custody.
He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge and court costs totalling £239. The bench also imposed a two-year criminal behaviour order, the particulars being the defendant must not call 999 if not reporting a genuine emergency or concern and must surrender his phone if asked to by a Merseyside Police officer.
Ferguson, who was supported in court by his mum, has previously appeared in the ECHO for his previous offending, as well as his support of the far-right. In May this year, Ferguson was pictured at a Britain First march wearing a t-shirt with widely recognised neo-nazi connotations.
When contacted by the ECHO regarding the clothing, he said he was unable to comment because the political party he worked for prevented him from giving statements. Ferguson’s previous convictions include breaching football banning orders on a number of occasions and a nine-month prison sentence for racial abuse.