Woman jailed after threatening to hurt herself during drunken 999 calls

A ‘SUICIDAL’ woman who panted, swore, and made threats to hurt herself in a series of drunken 999 calls has been jailed.

Nicola Dunne was locked up for nine months after she repeatedly called emergency services to her West London home in March.

Isleworth Crown Court heard on Monday, April 8 that this was while she was still serving a suspended sentence for public order offences that happened last year.

The 58-year-old, of Beverley Road, Ruislip, was convicted of knife possession and two counts of using threatening language at Wood Green Crown Court in August 2023, but was spared immediate custody with a 14-month sentence suspended for 18 months.

The sentence also attached alcohol abstinence monitoring and rehabilitation activity requirements to help her struggle with alcohol.

But after the death of Dunne’s mother on November 12, 2023, around the same time her abstinence treatment ended, she fell off the wagon and became disengaged with the probation service, the court heard.

Things came to a head on March 8, 2024, when Dunne called 999 18 times in around six hours, claiming she had been abused, and that she had overdosed.

“Many of the calls were just breathing down the line, also shouting and swearing at the call handler, and threatening she would commit suicide,” prosecutor Yetunde Martins told the court.

Still fearing she might take her own life, police attended but Dunne failed to let them in. When the two officers realised the front door was open, they walked inside and found her slumped on her sofa, surrounded by empty cans and slurring her words.

Dunne told the officers she wanted to be with her mum, who had died. Concerned about her claims of an overdose, paramedics were also called.

After her release from the hospital, Dunne was taken to a police station but made no comment to all questions.

Dunne admitted a single count of using a public communication network to cause annoyance at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on March 11 this year, but nine days later she was at it again when she twice called the London Ambulance Service with more suicide and self-harm threats in a 24-hour window.

She then refused to engage with the paramedics once they arrived.

Eventually a neighbour allowed the paramedics into Dunne’s home, but she was abusive and it was obvious she was drunk.

This time, when she was questioned, she said she was suicidal and complained of having chest pain.

“She said her calls were valid,” Ms Martins said. “She said her background was medical and she did not want to waste time. She said she had a heart attack in the past and that she does suffer chest pain.”

Dunne was later charged with exactly the same offence as before, which she also admitted ahead of her hearing.

In 2014, Dunne was convicted of battery and theft, in 2018 for assaults on emergency workers, in 2021 for wasting police time, and then in 2023 when she was given a suspended sentence for knife possession and using threatening language.

Defence counsel Mark Butler said this was due to his client’s alcoholism, and said she had done “remarkably well” until last November when her alcohol treatment ended, she lost her mother, and she found herself isolated over the Christmas period.

“She is incredibly remorseful. She knows she has messed up, to put it mildly,” said Mr Butler.

Judge Martin Edmunds KC said Dunne’s culpability was high due to her use of suicide threats, and, while the harm was lower, reminded her those who got the threats “are not unaffected”.

The judge also considered Dunne’s bereavement, and her apparent success with the previous alcohol monitoring requirement, as he weighed up the mitigation.

But Dunne let out a sigh as Judge Edmunds concluded the offences had reached the custody threshold, and would activate her suspended sentence.

Handing her a nine month sentence, comprised of 7 months from her activated sentence and two consecutive terms of a month for the recent offences, he said: “That must be immediate, it being utterly unrealistic to make a further suspended sentence in this case.”