Man jailed for making ‘belching’ 999 calls ‘because he was bored’

A man who repeatedly dialled 999 and belched down the phone line at police call handlers to alleviate his boredom has been jailed for 24 weeks.

Rhys Pilott, of Crown Street, Peterborough, admitted at an earlier hearing to causing a public nuisance on September 24.

He also admitted to persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance and inconvenience on September 27.

The 28-year-old sat with his arms folded as he appeared by video-link for his sentencing at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Prosecutor Anthea Harris said Pilott made 13 nuisance calls on the first occasion and 19 on the second.

She said the calls were “easily distinguished” as being made by the defendant as he was

“audibly belching down the phone line”.

“When he was arrested, he continued to belch,” she said.

“He said to police ‘if you’re bored, prank call the police. It’s fun’.”

Michelle Canagasuriam, mitigating, said Pilott’s offending was not “malicious or callous” and he has learning difficulties.

“He does this partly due to boredom,” she said.

District Judge Ken Sheraton said Pilott “knows what he’s doing”.

Pilott admitted to two further offences at yesterday’s hearing, which both relate to an incident on September 10 where he stripped naked in public in the middle of the day and swore at police.

The court heard Pilott had 12 previous convictions for “similar type offending”, including three bomb hoaxes.