Nuisance 999 caller handed Criminal Behaviour Order in Southsea for deliberately wasting police time

A man has been handed a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) for persistently making nuisance 999 calls.

Neil McAvery, 50, of Omega Street in Southsea, phoned 999 38 times between December 2023 and May 2024. On all occasions there was no genuine emergency for McAvery to report and he stated on numerous calls that he “wanted to waste police time” and stated “this is fun this, wasting your time”.

He appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on Thursday 30 January, where he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety.

McAvery was handed a CBO, which will last for the next two years and requires him for the not to make any further nuisance calls to the emergency services and to only call the emergency services when there is a genuine emergency.

He was also given a suspended sentence of 6 weeks imprisonment.

This conviction was the result of a thorough investigation over several months which included reviewing many hours of 999 recordings.

Please only call 999 when in a real genuine emergency. Calling when not an emergency, or to ‘waste police time’ can result in blocking the 999 system, which may prevent other members of the public who genuinely have an emergency from getting through. In the worst case scenario, this could cost lives.

More information on how to contact police and when to use the 999 system can be found on our website at Contact us | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary.