999 call pest Andrew Peacock given 3 months to reform

Andrew James Peacock, 46, has made such a nuisance of himself to emergency call handlers he is banned from calling 999 except for genuine reasons, York Crown Court heard.

He is also banned from NHS premises except for emergencies or genuine appointments because he has caused problems for medical staff.

Brooke Morrison, prosecuting, described how he made a series of unjustified 999 calls last year, during which he threatened to slit his wrists, start a fight, insulted control room staff and claimed he had been robbed but wouldn’t give any details.

He also sped up and down the aisles of a Lidl in his home town on a mobility scooter, despite being banned from the store, and threatened to kill a security staff who tried to remove him from the building.

Judge Simon Hickey said Peacock, who has 344 previous convictions, wasted taxpayers’ money, and the time and resources of emergency service workers that could be better used on people who did need help.

He deferred sentence for three months to give Peacock the opportunity to take up an offer he says he has of a residential alcohol treatment position and to show he can behave himself.

“I want to see if there is an opportunity to break this incredible list of convictions  – most of the convictions are for identical behaviour,” he said.

The judge told Peacock that if he reoffends before he returns to court on July 24 or if he doesn’t save money to compensate the security officer, he will be jailed for between three to four years including the sentence currently suspended.

Peacock, of Alexander Way, Richmond, pleaded guilty to seven charges of breaching the criminal behaviour order that includes the 999 and NHS bans and also bans him from being drunk in public or having an open can of alcohol in public and one charge of using threatening words or behaviour towards the security officer.  

For all of the offences he was on a suspended prison sentence for other offences.

Defence barrister Anastasis Tasou said: “Every single offence before the court for many, many years has been fuelled by alcohol. He has been ravaged by a 26-year addiction, he has liver disease, heart disease, diabetes.”

Ms Morrison told the court how Peacock had made such a nuisance of himself at a medical practice and at a hotel in Darlington on Christmas Eve, police had had to be called to deal with him, and he had also made a nuisance of himself at Richmond Police Station.