A serial hoaxer who called 999 to report his house keys stolen has been warned to stop being a nuisance or face jail.
John Johnston, from Perth, admitted making a series of time-wasting calls to the emergency services hotline on April 11 last year.
When police arrived at his Crieff Road flat, he put his hands up and asked to be taken to prison.
The 50-year-old was jailed in 2021 for bombarding the service with similar hoaxes, including false claims he was going to kill himself.
He returned to Perth Sheriff Court this week and admitted obstructing or hindering police officers with multiple calls, causing them to attend at his home unnecessarily.
Wanted to go to jail
Fiscal depute Andrew Harding said: “At about 11am, the accused called 999 and stated that his house keys had been stolen and he was locked in his address.
“He was advised that this was not a police emergency matter.”
Mr Harding told the court: “At 11.50am, he again called 999 and stated that he need to go to jail, before hanging up.
“He then called 999 again and told operators of an ‘address for the emergency’.
“He said he was going to get lifted, that he was going to jail, and then hung up.”
Police officers attended a short time later.
“The accused stated to police that he wanted to go to jail,” said Mr Harding.
“He held his hands up and said he wanted to be cuffed.
“He said that he was not suicidal, but just wanted to go to jail.”
Too old for this
Solicitor Mike Tavendale, defending, said his client had suffered a relapse of past alcohol problems, brought on by the death of his father and a falling out with his mother.
“He said to me: ‘I’m 50 years old, I shouldn’t be coming to court for such matters.’
“On the plus side, he is a very hard worker and has a job as a cleaner at a local takeaway.”
Sheriff Gillian Wade told Johnston: “You are quite right to acknowledge that you are too old for this.
“You are just making a nuisance of yourself to police and others. That is simply unacceptable.”
She said: “It is essential that you take steps to address your underlying problems, otherwise the court will eventually lose patience with you and you will receive custodial sentence after custodial sentence.”
Johnston, of Crieff Road, was ordered to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work.
In March 2021, Johnston was jailed for 140 days for making as many as 48 hoax 999 calls in the space of a month.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
