Nuisance caller flouted court order day after prison release

A Soham woman who served a jail sentence for bombarding police with false emergency calls is back in prison after flouting a court order the day after gaining her freedom.

Helen Peacock was given a two-year criminal behaviour order (CBO) on September 24 last year prohibiting her from contacting emergency services unless she was in genuine need of emergency help.

The 41-year-old flouted the order and was jailed on November 1 this year before being released on Monday November 22.

However, she began phoning the police’s emergency line the next day.

She was asked several times if she had an emergency to report, which she ignored, so the call was terminated and she was arrested and released.

The following day she phoned the police’s emergency line a further three times and raised concerns for her welfare, so paramedics were sent to her home in Queensway, Soham.

Officers were also sent to the address after Peacock refused to answer the door to the paramedics and she was arrested for breaching her CBO.

Peacock was jailed for 24 weeks at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court on November 25 after pleading guilty to four counts of breaching a criminal behaviour order.

Sergeant Mat Lupton-Pike said: “Despite a strict court order and multiple previous warnings Peacock continued to misuse our emergency phone line.

“The force’s call handlers work tirelessly around the clock, under immense amounts of pressure, to protect those most in need.

“The misuse of our 999 service can cost lives and won’t be tolerated.”

More information on hoax calling is available on the force’s website.