Jilted woman’s hoax 999 call sparked river rescue alert

A jilted girlfriend made a hoax 999 call pretending she had jumped to her death in a river, prompting a huge emergency response.

Rebecca Mccluskey was left devastated when her boyfriend of two years revealed that he was leaving her for his ex-wife.

The 24-year-old, of Worcester, Worcs, told emergency services she had seen a woman in the River Severn, before texting her partner to say she was about to jump into the water.

A rescue team, including 10 police officers, a dog handler, two fire rescue boats and a police helicopter were dispatched to scene at 10.50pm on Sept 7.

However, they were left baffled when the exboyfriend arrived at the scene and showed them the text message and later discovered that Mccluskey had stayed by the riverside.

Mccluskey admitted wasting police time, and was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months at Worcester magistrates’ court.

She was also ordered to pay costs of £135 and a victim surcharge of £30.

Peter Love, prosecuting, said: “She wasted a substantial amount of resources.

“Police are not applying for compensation, but I imagine it would be in the thousands if they had.”