Gamer faked US hostage situation in phone call during UK-first 'swatting' prosecution

A gamer who faked a hostage situation in a telephone call that left a man with life-changing injuries has escaped a jail term. Robert Walker-McDaid claimed he had plastic explosives and hostages when he called a terrorism hotline in the US as part of a ‘swatting’ incident at victim Tyran Dobbs’ home in America.

‘Swatting’ sees fake calls made to emergency services with the goal of causing panic and getting an armed response unit sent out to neutralise a perceived threat. As a result of Walker-McDaid’s call, Dobbs was shot in the face and chest and suffered severe injuries that required reconstructive surgery.

Despite the British legal system not recognising "swatting" as a standalone offence, as the United States does, the Crown Prosecution Service took Walker-McDaid, aged 28 and from Coventry, to court. He was the first person charged in Britain with offences associated with ‘swatting’.

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Today, Friday, April 19, Walker-McDaid was handed a 20-month suspended sentence at Warwick Crown Court. He had earlier pleading guilty to one count of perverting the course of justice.

West Midlands Police said the plan for the ‘swatting’ incident began during a Skype conversation with a friend Walker-McDaid met while playing video games. On February 17, 2015, Zachary Lee, of Catonsville, Maryland, messaged Walker-McDaid to tell him he had ‘someone I need swatted’ and shared the victim’s address. Lee was sentenced to two years in prison in the US for his role in the incident in January 2018.

A day later, McDaid called a Maryland terrorism hotline after being provided with the victim’s address. Posing as Mr Dobbs, he told the operator he was armed and had three hostages, as well as several explosive devices. McDaid said the first hostage would be 'executed within 15 minutes' unless he received 15,000 dollars in cash.

Believing the threat was real, a Swat team responding to Walker-McDaid’s call shot Dobbs in the face and chest with plastic bullets, having believed he was the person making the hostage and bomb threat.

Several tactical units and crisis negotiators spent more than two hours at the scene. Howard County Police Department, the FBI and Interpol enquiries discovered the hoax call was made by a Skype user ‘Meowobikiniz’, using a Virgin IP address registered to a property in Coventry. It turned out to be Walker-McDaid’s home address.

Initially, the United States planned to extradite Walker-McDaid to face charges in its jurisdiction, but the extradition case was blocked and a later appeal also rejected. Walker-McDaid admitted placing the call but denied full blame and suggested he was pressured into the act. But using the Skype messages sent between Walker-McDaid and Lee in advance of the ‘swatting’ incident, prosecutors were able to prove he was a willing and active participant in the plan.

Speaking after the case, Hannah Sidaway, specialist prosecutor for CPS West Midlands, said: "Swatting is far more than a crude prank – it is a serious crime which can have devastating consequences. Walker-McDaid may not have intended to cause such serious harm, but by sowing panic and deceiving law enforcement into responding to a fictitious threat, he left an innocent man with life-changing injuries.

“British-based offenders who hide behind online anonymity to commit serious crimes abroad will not escape justice, and we will continue to work collaboratively with international partners to ensure and perpetrators will face the full force of the law.”

Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, said: "We will continue to use every tool at our disposal and work closely with our international partners to ensure that those who seek to harm Americans will face justice, wherever they may be.”

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