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Serial hoaxer gets 999 ban
A MAN has been slapped with a restraining order which prevents him from dialling 999 after he repeatedly called emergency services and abused staff.
David Caine, 43, is not allowed to call the 999 service unless it is an emergency after a series of obscene calls to ambulance call-centre staff, South Tyneside magistrates heard.
The court heard police had given Caine numerous chances, but he continued the bizarre phone calls late at night, usually when he is drunk.
Officers finally ran out of patience with him on September 24 last year, when he hurled death threats down the phone at a shocked call handler.
The X-rated rant was read out at court, but much of it is unprintable.
Michael Rose, prosecuting, told magistrates: "At one point he said 'you've damaged my mind, I'm going to die. I will get you and I will kill you.
"Unfortunately, this is not an unknown thing for Mr Caine to do. He has a history of this.
"Police have asked him numerous times to stop, but he insists on doing it."
Caine, of Bowman Place, South Shields, admitted sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message on Friday last week.
Mr Rose applied for a restraining order, claiming Caine caused staff harassment.
Geoffrey Forrester, defending, expressed his surprise at the application.
He said: "I've never heard of a restraining order for something like this.
"I would respectfully submit that there is no need for putting a restraining order on something which is already an offence."
Magistrates, however, agreed to Mr Rose's request and handed Caine the restraining order, which states that "he must not use the emergency 999 service unless he has a reasonable belief that there is a genuine emergency".
Today a police chief and ambulance boss slammed Caine for his actions.
Gayle White, customer care manager for the North East Ambulance Service, said: "David Caine has been known to us for some time.
"He has persistently called North East Ambulance Service in the past, but on this occasion he was verbally abusive to the call takers when he rang for an ambulance.
"We want to stress how dangerous inappropriate calls can be in diverting precious resources away from somebody in a genuine life-threatening emergency. Misuse of 999 will not be tolerated and you may find yourself punished in a court."
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Bentham, from South Tyneside Area Command, said: "Any call which wastes police time and prevents officers from helping people in genuine need can potentially put lives at risk.
"The emergency services have to prioritise how they deal with calls, and the main issue for us is how such hoax calls could cost lives in a real emergency situation.
"We take incidents of hoax calls very seriously and will prosecute when we have the necessary evidence."
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Weather for South Shields
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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Temperature: -3 C to 6 C
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