Woman told to undergo rehab after silently ringing 999 more than 350 times in just two months

Donna Walters, from Cabot Grove in Perton, near Wolverhampton, was sentenced to an 18-month Community Order at Cannock Magistrates’ Court on October 19 after pleading guilty to wasting police time and persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience and anxiety. She rang 999 360 times over a two-and-a-half month period, never saying anything when handlers answered.

Walters made the repeat phone calls between 2 July and 27 August 2017.

In addition to her community order, the 48-year-old is required to complete a 40-day rehabilitation programme and abide by a three-month curfew between the hours of 7pm and 6am.

Lisa Cope, the head of contact services at Staffordshire Police, said: “This sentencing sends out a really strong message that nuisance calls to the emergency services will not be tolerated. Calls of this nature hinder our control room staff as they try to deal with genuine emergency calls from the public. All 999 calls are automatically recorded and can be used in evidence against someone committing a crime.”