Hoax caller phoned emergency services 2,000 times and threatened to attack ambulance crew with a machete

A man who made more than 2,000 bogus calls to emergency services, including threatening staff with violence and faking crises, has been jailed for a year.

Paul Hennessy, 57, made almost 2,000 calls to the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB) between 1 January, 2021 and 6 June, 2022 as well as hundreds of calls to police, amounting to nearly four calls a day.

In one call to a 999 handler he threatened to attack ambulance staff with a machete and said he would kill a crew if they were sent to his address.

His threats led to the service spending thousands of pounds on extra security for paramedics and staff.

In some of the abusive phone calls, Hennessy created aliases so he could report false medical episodes, including claiming he had gone into cardiac arrest.

He also rang police on one occasion saying he had been attacked with an unknown substance on his doorstep, but when officers arrived he showed no signs of injury.

Hennessy, of St Leonards, Sussex was jailed for a total of one year at Lewes Crown Court after admitting two counts of sending threatening electronic communications conveying a message to cause distress or anxiety, contrary to Section 127 of the Communications Act.

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PC Darren McCann, from Sussex Police, said: "Hennessy has become notorious for making nuisance calls to emergency services.

"This has included wasting valuable time on 999 calls where police and ambulance staff could have been replying to genuine emergencies.

"Some of his hoaxes also led to paramedics and police officers having to be sent to his address, to respond to potential medical or criminal emergencies that he had concocted."

He added: "His behaviour during his calls to the emergency services was appalling. He was frequently abusive to staff and made threats to harm them and to harm frontline emergency responders.

"This is simply not acceptable. We are pleased that the court recognises the seriousness of these offences, and we hope that he will have time to reflect on his appalling behaviour in prison."

SECAmb Security Manager Dave Monk said: "The behaviour of this individual put lives at risk and subjected staff, who come to work to help people, instead to horrific abuse and fear.

"Our staff deserve to be able to provide vital care to people without facing such awful and timewasting abuse."