Pensioner in Court for Making Hundreds of Malicious Emergency Calls

A Tyneside pensioner has appeared in court for a second time after making a further 420 malicious emergency calls.

Lena Taylor, 90, of Churchill Street, Wallsend, was convicted in July of making hundreds of abusive phone calls to the emergency services.

Back then the court heard how Taylor had branded ambulance service staff "wankers" and "bastards" after making various threats to self-harm and burn her own house down.

District Judge Bernard Begley imposed a two year conditional discharge and warned Taylor that she faced a stint behind bars if she persisted in making the calls. She replied: "I don't care one little bit".

To further illustrate her defiance, the firebrand granny has just appeared back before the same court having repeated her earlier crimes.

The bench heard that Taylor had made more than 400 new calls to the North East Ambulance Service via the 999 system, with a further 100 new calls being made via the non-emergency NHS 111 number. All of the calls were made in the six week period between 14th July and 30th August.

Prosecutor Bethany Jendrzejewski told that court that Taylor's calls were putting a great strain on the already stretched resources of the ambulance service.

She added: "Mrs Taylor's telephone calls are aggressive in nature and trust staff are repeatedly being abused, insulted and sworn at. And this is causing distress to staff.

"In one call, from 22nd July, at 11.27 am, she said 'I've done my dinner, I need someone to take me to bingo to keep me calm. Stop fucking messing around with me. I'm not going to sit in this house all day'."

During one of Taylor's outbursts a genuine emergency call about a baby that had stopped breathing was placed in a queue.

Mark Harrison, representing Taylor, said: "She had not committed any offence prior to her 90th birthday.

"However one looks at Mrs Taylor, whether you take a sympathetic view or that she is a nuisance, it's a matter of huge sadness that a lady of her age, free from convictions until after her 90th birthday, now places herself at risk of a criminal behaviour order or imprisonment.

"This requires not the criminal justice system but the care system."

The bench ordered a pre-sentence report and adjourned sentence until 2nd November.

Ordinarily an offence of this nature would attract at least a high level community order. The fact that Taylor went out and breached her conditional discharge almost immediately tips this towards a custodial sentence, but any bench will be loathe to do that with such an elderly defendant who clearly has issues.

We shall see what 2nd November brings.