Magistrates have deferred sentencing a Winchester man who repeatedly makes nuisance phone calls to the emergency services.
Anthony John Walters, 57, of St John's Road, Winchester, admitted seven breaches of his Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) when he appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court last week.
Breaching a CBO is an offence under section 30 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The maximum penalty is 6 months' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction; or 5 years' custody and/or an unlimited fine on conviction on indictment. In accordance with section 30(3) of the Act, the court is not empowered to impose a conditional discharge in respect of an offence.
A five-year CBO was made against Walters in April 2019, the conditions of which prohibit him from contacting the emergency services save for a genuine emergency situation. Prior to that Walters was subject to an earlier CBO, which had similar conditions.
Over the years he has breached the order literally hundreds of times and been jailed several times as a result. Custody is clearly no deterrent because the nuisance calls resume the moment he is released.
The latest breaches took place on 7th April, 15th May, 9th June (twice), 10th June, 3rd July and 13th July 2020. However, there has been no reported breaches since then.
Sensing a glimmer of hope, Magistrates took the unusual decision of deferring Walters' sentencing until Thursday, 8th July 2021.
They told Walters their expectation that he would not reoffend in the meantime and would be able to produce evidence that he had sought medical or psychiatric help.
In reference to Walters' offences, Chief Inspector Jon Turton, Hampshire Constabulary's District Commander for Winchester, said: "We take this seriously because nuisance calls take up valuable time that could be better spent talking to people in genuine need.
"Receiving a high number of malicious calls directly affects the service we can give to other people. Call handlers should also be able to work without being verbally abused.
"It is disappointing to see Walters repeatedly ignore the Criminal Behaviour Order he had received."
Deferral of sentence is always an option available to the court under section 5 of the Sentencing Act 2020. A deferral of up to six months is permitted, but can only be made with the agreement of the offender.
It is unusual to see deferral of sentence in the Magistrates' Court, because the usual expectation is that the same bench will follow through with sentencing at the end of the deferral period. That is difficult to achieve with the irregular sittings of a bench of lay justices, but can be done by a District Judge.
Deferral of sentence is quite common in the Crown Court, because the judge can simply reserve the matter for sentencing at a time convenient for them.
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