Huntingdon: Hoax Caller Avoids Jail

By Tom Horn, 9th February 2012, 16:37

A Huntingdon teenager, who made more than 800 hoax calls to Cambridgeshire Police, has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Kerry Ann Moate, who is 18 and from Samuel Jones Crescent, Little Paxton, Huntingdon, made the calls during December last year.

She made 756 of them between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and 44 of them between December 11 and December 13.

Magistrates heard Moate had 'a long standing grudge against police'.

At an earlier hearing she admitted two counts of persistently making use of the public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.

Today (Thursday) she was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

She will also be subject to supervision and mental health orders and must pay £85 in legal costs.

Detective Superintendent Paul Fullwood from Cambridgeshire Police said: "The sheer volume of malicious calls was extremely disruptive to the force at a time of year that is always busy for police.

Today’s sentence sends out a clear message about the severity of this offence.

The emergency number is in place to protect people from harm and to deal with serious offences, and can be called if a suspect is at a scene, if there is a likelihood of violence or damage to a person’s property and when there is a serious road traffic collision.

Every time someone misuses 999 they are potentially putting others’ lives at risk. 

This is especially true when we receive a large number of nuisance calls as it impacts on how quickly other emergency calls are answered.

This behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will continue to pursue those who make malicious calls."