999 call burper jailed by court

Peterborough man also admitted stripping off in public

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, who has a history of making hoax calls – including false bomb threats – made a number of the nuisance calls earlier this year.

Pilott was also jailed for outraging public decency after stripping off in public.

The 28-year-old, who has learning difficulties, appeared by video-link for sentencing at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

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.

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

She added: “While he’s on the phone, other genuine calls can’t be taken.”

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. “The psychologist is of the view this is about empowerment and importance. It was a need to be a someone who could make things happen, when all of his life history suggests he couldn’t achieve this.”

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

Pilott admitted to two further offences, 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.

He pleaded guilty to outraging public decency and to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The court heard he was on a suspended sentence order when he committed the offences. He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing a public nuisance. He also admitted to persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.