Jamie Bryson makes formal statement as police begin hunt for caller who threatened his young son

Mr Bryson said he has this morning (Monday) made a formal statement to the PSNI, and granted police permission to access his phone records to help establish the identity of the caller using a withheld number.

Mr Bryson claims the same caller has targeted him more than 1,300 times, with the threat to his son being made last Thursday evening.

He said: “Following on from my initial complaint to PSNI on Thursday evening, one hour after the telephone threat to sexually abuse my little boy, I have this morning provided the PSNI with a fulsome statement.

“This sets out the full campaign of harassment, threats and abuse. In the past 12 months, it is estimated there have been 1,311 calls. These have all been from unknown numbers.

“The normal outcome is that I would answer the first time, as often various media outlets or public bodies ring from unknown numbers, and after discovering it is the obsessive stalker, I hang up.

“This is usually followed by between 40-50 calls over the subsequent hours. It is not possible to block specific unknown numbers.”

Mr Bryson said police have been provided with the full details, including calls containing death threats against both himself and his family.

“There have also been a number of recordings of these calls handed over to PSNI,” he said.

“In addition to my statement, further statements are being made to PSNI by a range of persons- including by elected representatives- who have been in my company when such calls have been received, and who were able to use their phones to record them.

“In order to expedite the process, and bypass the need for a warrant or other legal process, I have this morning provided the PSNI with authorisation to obtain from my phone provider the call data for the relevant calls with the specified times and dates provided. This will allow the unknown caller’s true identity to be quickly unmasked.”

Mr Bryson said he is extremely grateful “for the cross-community outpouring of support” after he posted an audio recording of the latest threatening phone call on Thursday night.

“There has been a small minority of persons on social media who have disgracefully sought to justify or even question the background to this incident. I do not want to give such persons the credence or acknowledgment of engaging with them.

“Anyone who thinks a threat to sexually assault – until the point of death – a seven year old child can be in anyway mitigated let alone justified is beyond redemption.

“I am also aware of a ‘Twitter space’ recording circulating with vile comments being made, and approvingly endorsed by a person prominent in the Twitter world. All legal options are being considered in relation to this.”

Mr Bryson went on to say: “In all my time in the public arena, this has been without question the most difficult and distressing period. People can abuse me, threaten me and troll me all day long. That has no impact whatsoever.

“However, targeting my little seven year old boy is never going to be tolerable or acceptable. To the anonymous coward behind these calls, I would call on them to come and face me man to man and say those things about my son.

“Or if you do not have the courage to meet me, then reveal your identity and allow society to judge you on the basis of your comments.

“There is no hiding place for the perpetrator. We live in a digital age of an electronic footprint left all over our every engagement via the use of modern technology.

“I hope to engage with the Justice Minister to discuss what I understand to be the ongoing consideration around the need for legislation to combat abuse of public figures, and indeed others.

“I would propose that built into such provisions would be specific aggravating factors – with much broader sentencing powers – such as enhanced custodial sentences for those who target the family of a person based on hostility to political opinion, religious belief or other defined characteristics.

“This would go beyond the pre-existing aggravating factors of targeting a person based on protected characteristics, and create a new specifically defined category of targeting the family of such a person.”

READ: Support for Jamie Bryson after young son threatened in vile telephone call