Man dialled 999 to demand a lift

Drunk thought he was under curfew

A man, high on a cocktail of drink and drugs, repeatedly dialled 999 and demanded that police drive him to Perth.

Twenty-three-year-old Lee Mullen claimed he was subject to a curfew and was in breach of his bail conditions.

But officers checked their computer records and told him there were no such conditions in force.

He was warned not to use the emergency system again, Perth Sheriff Court heard.

But a further four calls were received in the space of the next 40 minutes, according to depute fiscal Tina Dickie.

Mullen, who was more than 15 miles away in Gilmerton, near Crieff, was again “repeatedly told” there were no curfew conditions in place.

But he threatened to “go mental” if police didn’t take him home to Perth.

Police traced him to a house in Maxtone Terrace where he was banging on the door of a friend with whom he had fallen out.

Due to his “drunken and drug condition,” he wouldn’t heed further warnings and was arrested.

Mullen, of St Catherine’s Square in the Fair City, was jailed for a total of 282 days when he appeared for sentence on a catalogue of charges. He admitted repeatedly phoning 999 from Gilmerton on October 5 last year and threatening to cause a disturbance if he wasn’t provided with transport.

He was also found in the back garden of a house in Perth’s Albany Terrace on October 2 in suspicious circumstances.

Two shoplifting charges - one involving the theft of just £2-worth of beauty products from Poundland in the St John’s Centre on November 24 - were also admitted. Mullen was subject to several bail orders at the time.

Ms Dickie told the court that the accused had been spotted by a man returning home from work about 11.30pm.

He was going into a number of gardens of properties in Albany Terrace.

The police were alerted and when they traced Mullen, who was again heavily under the influence of drink or drugs, he claimed he had been “looking for a cigarette”.

Solicitor Paul Ralph said his client had been freed from a 10-month jail sentence just before Christmas, 2015.

He added: “By and large he was doing OK, but his father passed away last year.”

He was unsure if that was the “trigger” for his recent offences but he was now described as “out of control.”

He was smoking a gramme of heroin a day, as well as taking Valium.

“He’s aware of the predicament he’s put himself in,” added the lawyer.

Sheriff Gillian Wade told him: “You have a long offending history that requires to be dealt with by a custodial sentence.”

One of the charges indicated he had been subject to four bail orders.

The sentence was backdated to December 8 when Mullen was first remanded.