A former Stamford Hill Shomrim member has been sentenced for falsely accusing teenagers of a robbery in what police have described as a “despicable deception”.

Michael Scher, 32, admitted perverting the course of justice when his trial was due to start at Wood Green Crown Court last Wednesday.

Yaakov Nowogrodski, 27, another former member of the strictly Orthodox volunteer group, was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and false imprisonment over the same incident but he failed to attend court and is believed to have fled the country.

A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Scher received a five-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. A third man, delivery driver Thiago Alves, 38, received an eight-month prison sentence.

The court heard that, on July 3, 2017, police received calls stating that Shomrim had detained two youths for robbery in Stamford Hill.

When police officers arrived at the scene, they were told that two males, aged 13 and 15, had tried to rob Alves, a delivery driver, of his moped, surrounding him, pushing him and demanding the keys to his vehicle.

Alves, Scher and Nowogrodski all repeated these allegations in sworn statements to investigating officers.

The youths were arrested and held by police for 16 hours.

But detectives obtained CCTV footage that showed the boys were not near Alves and did not try to steal his moped.

The teenagers were released and Alves, Scher and Nowogrodski were later arrested.

Detective Sergeant James Leeks said police who attended the initial scene had “acted in good faith, but were deceived by a deliberate criminal conspiracy".

He said the arrest and detention of the two innocent teenagers, neither of whom had a criminal record, would have been “traumatic for both them and their families.”

Det Sgt Leeks said: “Why these men decided to fabricate this case may never be explained.

“However, abusing the criminal justice system in such an underhand manner is disgraceful. Those responsible for this despicable deception will now have to face the consequences of their actions.”

Rabbi Herschel Gluck, president of the Stamford Hill Shomrim, said the behaviour of the two Shomrim members was “a serious aberration” and emphasised that Scher and Nowogrodski had been “immediately suspended” after the incident.

“Since this incident nearly two years ago, Shomrim have provided its dedicated volunteers with extra training, to further ensure integrity comes first and foremost”, he said, adding that the organisation "deeply regret[s] the distress caused".