A CHEESE vendor has admitted sending a false text message to police – nearly seven years after he was due to appear in court to answer the charge.

Dutch national Branco Van-Wissen, 31, was supposed to have appeared before a Carlisle Crown Court judge in September, 2014.

Van-Wissen had been charged with doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice on June 21 of that year having sent a false text message to police which resulted in the arrest of two men.

His victims were both traders at Whitehaven’s continental market, and were maliciously targeted by Van Wissen who also sold his goods – understood to be cheese – at the market.

The men were subsequently released without charge.

When Van Wissen failed to show at court in September of that year, a warrant for his arrest was issued.

And, after a gap of six years and seven months, Van-Wissen pleaded guilty to the charge when he finally appeared in the crown court dock at lunchtime on Friday.

Van-Wissen was said to have spent a period in detention prior to being extradited to the UK yesterday. “Having been in Holland for most of – if not all – of that time,” revealed his lawyer, Erim Mushtaq.

Throughout his period on the run, Van Wissen targeted reporters at the News & Star, insisting the court case was a lie and the warrant was made up.

No pre-sentence report was requested, but Judge Nicholas Barker said he was unable to pass a punishment immediately due to a lack of court time.

Van Wissen, whose address was given as Schoolstraat, in the village of Herveld, Holland, was remanded in custody and told by the judge he is likely to receive his sentence at the crown court next week.

“You have been well aware this matter has existed for many years. Of course matters have been ongoing in Holland through the extradition process,” Judge Barker told him.