THREE men and a woman have appeared in front of a Carlisle Crown Court judge after being charged as part of a probe into bogus telephone calls allegedly made by people pretending to be police officers.

The three males: Bilal Akhter, aged 39, Amir Sohail Rehman, 28, and 19-year-old Muhammad Shahzeb; and the female, Iuliana Nicolae, 23 jointly face one charge.

This alleges that they conspired together to steal money between September 22 and 26 this year.

Teenager Shahzeb faces two additional charges. One alleges the theft of two shotguns belonging to a man on September 23. The other alleges the possession of the shotguns without the necessary certificate required by law.

Akhter, of Barnston Road; Rehman, of Cowlick Road; and Nicolae, of Stockhill Road, all Nottingham; and Shahzeb, of Stenson Road, Derby, all appeared at Carlisle Crown Court on Friday morning.

After listening to submissions from prosecution and defence lawyers in the case, Judge Nicholas Barker agreed that no pleas would be taken from defendants during the hearing.

Instead, Judge Barker set a date for a trial. This was provisionally listed for March 24 next year and given a time estimate of around five days.

An additional hearing was listed for November 29 this year when defendants will return to the crown court and pleas to the charges they face are due to be entered.

In the meantime Akhter, Nicolae and Shahzeb remain remanded in custody. Rehman has been granted bail

Speaking publicly last month, Det Insp Lee Brumpton, of Cumbria Police, appealed for any members of the public who may have fallen prey to any phone scam involving fake police officers to contact the force.

“Our dedicated team of detectives will deal with your report sensitively and positively,” he said.

“I would also like to remind our communities to still remain vigilant to these phone calls and continue to share advice with family and friends, so they are aware of this recent scam within our community.”