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Man jailed after making thousands of hoax calls to police and ambulance crews

Paul Hennessy made almost 2,000 hoax calls to ambulance crews over 18 months <i>(Image: Sussex Police)</i>
Paul Hennessy made almost 2,000 hoax calls to ambulance crews over 18 months (Image: Sussex Police)

A man who harassed ambulance crews and police with thousands of hoax calls has been jailed.

Paul Hennessy made almost 2,000 hoax calls to the South East Coast Ambulance (Secamb) services between January 1, 2021, and June 6 this year.

Some of his calls were made to 999 call handlers, where he made threats to attack ambulance staff with a machete at a vehicle preparation centre in Hastings.

He also made a threat to kill a crew if they were sent to his address.

In some of his abusive calls, he created aliases to report false medical episodes, such as claiming he had gone into cardiac arrest.

During the same period, Hennessy made hundreds of calls to police, including a false claim that he had been attacked with an unknown substance on his doorstep. He showed no signs of injury when officers arrived at the scene.

Lewes Crown Court heard how Hennessy’s threats to the ambulance service meant extra security measures worth thousands of pounds had to be put in place to protect paramedics and staff in Hastings.

Hennessy, of Southwater Road in St Leonards, admitted two counts of sending threatening electronic communications conveying a message to cause distress and anxiety and was jailed for a year.

Investigating officer PC Darren McCann 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.

“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 time-wasting abuse.

“We will always work closely with police to ensure individuals who don’t respect our staff are held to account for their actions. We welcome the custodial sentence and thank our police colleagues for their work to ensure these crimes did not go unpunished.”