Hoaxer faked mountain falls
A SERIAL hoaxer has been jailed for 16 months for pretending to have had accidents on mountains, costing tens of thousands of pounds in unnecessary rescues.
Michael Cuminskey, 23, from Darlington, admitted causing a public nuisance after staging accidents in the Lake District in March 2016 and three days later at Llanb- eris in Snowdonia.
Caernarvon Crown Court heard Cuminskey was found by a man at the bottom of a 130ft drop at Vivian Quarry, Llanberis, claiming his back hurt. Twenty mountain rescue volunteers were assembled but as Cuminskey was winched aboard the helicopter he tried to take a selfie.
He was flown to Gwynedd Hospital at Bangor where he apologised for his actions.
Days earlier, North West ambulance service received a call about a man who had fallen while walking in Thirlmere, Cumbria. Keswick mountain rescuers found Cuminskey at the foot of a rocky area claiming he could not feel his legs.
On arrival at hospital he said he needed the lavatory, climbed off the stretcher and walked out.
“This was a staged accident,” said Mr Williamson. “He was entirely uninjured.”
Described in court as “a troubled young man”, he confessed to at least five similar hoaxes, two of them on Ben Nevis.
Judge Huw Rees told Cuminskey: “The offences are examples of blatant attention-seeking.”