| wb228 2005-06-16, 11:51 am |
| JUDGE TELLS PARAMEDICS TO IGNORE HOAXER'S 999 CALLS
26 February 2005
A Judge has taken the unheard-of step of telling the emergency services
to ignore 999 calls from a woman who has phoned them hundreds of times.
Julie Roberts has inundated the fire, police and ambulance services with
hoax calls in the past year, costing taxpayers thousands of pounds.
Now, District Judge Richard Williams has advised the police, fire and
ambulance services to ignore the 42-year-old when she calls from now on.
It is believed to be the first time this has happened anywhere in the
country.
Police admitted today that all the emergency services had been stretched
responding to the false phone calls from Roberts.
They, together with the judge, want her to be given medical help.
Neath Port Talbot Council had applied for an anti-social behaviour order
on Roberts, of Pentyla Road in Port Talbot, but Justice Williams said
that would not prevent her from making the calls.
He said: "Everyone in this room knows that an ASBO is going to be
breached.
"They are a deterrent for people who have done something wrong, but
still display rational behaviour. That is clearly not the case here."
Instead, he suggested that the emergency services simply stop attending
the call-outs.
At yesterday's hearing in Neath Magistrates Court he said: "One thing to
do is to ignore the calls, which seems to be a relatively achievable and
cost-effective situation.
"In the highly unlikely event that there is a genuine emergency and the
defendant is the sole witness then that falls under the risks of life.
If Julie Roberts makes these calls and it always produces an effect
there's some satisfaction for her."
Roberts became the first person in Britain to be banned from making 999
calls in November when she was given an interim ASBO.
However, she had broken the conditions of the order within days and
after repeated appearances in court the order was lifted.
Roberts also pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal damage and was
remanded on conditional bail until sentencing on April 15.
Justice Williams told Roberts she must attend an appointment with a
psychiatrist or face custody.
Fire and ambulance crews will now not attend unsubstantiated calls from
Roberts.
Ambulance trust locality manager Colin Jones said: "What we have agreed
collectively with the fire service is that we cannot ignore 999 calls.
"But what we have done is say that we will not respond unless we a get a
third party report as well."
Chief Inspector Mike Mantripp, of Neath and Port Talbot police, said:
"The emergency services are being stretched to regularly attend these
false calls.
"There was a real danger, while the emergency services were attending
the hoax calls, that a real emergency might come in and officers would
have been delayed in attending it. It is regrettable that we can only
pursue action through the court.
"The judge and ourselves are seeking some intervention from the medical
profession to resolve this escalating problem."
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