Man jailed for making 45 nuisance calls to police via 999 in one evening

A man has been jailed for making 45 nuisance calls to the police control room in one evening via the 999 number.

Simon Beynon, 45, from Pond Close, Overton, appeared at Winchester Crown Court on 31 August and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

He had previously been found guilty to persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety and breaching a criminal behaviour order.

On Saturday, 23 October, 2021, at 9.36pm, Beynon made his first call to the police control room on his mobile phone and did so intermittently into the following morning - a total of 45 times.

On each occasion, Beynon did not speak to call takers; only muffled noises were discernible and he ignored their interactions. By 22.06pm, he had already called 21 times and during this call a television could be heard in the background.

By calling 999 without a genuine emergency, Beynon breached a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order that had been put in place at North Hampshire Magistrates’ Court on 12 May 2021 following a conviction on 1 April, 2021, for the same offence.

Supt Anna Skelton, Contact Management Senior Delivery Manager, said: “Beynon’s actions took valuable time away from our call takers, who should have been helping people experiencing genuine emergencies.

"Our staff carry out a high pressure job, often dealing with people in their darkest hour, so to treat them with such a lack of respect is appalling.

"In recent weeks, we have been dealing with extremely high call volumes from the public, so this is a timely reminder to only dial 999 in an emergency. I hope this sentence sends out a strong message that making prank calls to 999 is a serious offence that could result in imprisonment."