A nursery school worker whose hoax 999 call sparked a major search of a Loch Tay has been spared jail after a sheriff said she could not be sent to prison for long enough.
Clair Frost, 35, sounded the false alarm from a landline at Killin Nursery School in Perthshire.
She said she thought she could see an overturned kayak at the “head of the lock” – a tell-tale mispronunciation of the Scottish word loch she was known to employ.
Police officers from as far as Stirling were sent to the scene, travelling on wintry roads, together with a fire engine, an ambulance and paramedic.
A helicopter was scrambled, while police checked lay-bys near the loch for vehicles from which a kayak could have been launched, as well as BandBs and campsites in the area.
A joint emergency services meeting point was set up in the Killin Hotel.
The Scottish Fire Service was considering launching a boat to search the “vast” and partially ice-covered loch – an operation which would have entailed further risks.
Frost’s husband, a retained firefighter, was called out as part of the search, which was stood down after six hours when realisation dawned the call was a hoax.
Mother-of-two Frost denied making the call but her “distinctive, higher-pitched, childlike” tones were identified by two colleagues and a police officer who had all known her for years.
She wept in the dock as she was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court, having been found guilty after a trial in August of making the false call to emergency services – a contravention of the 2005 Fire (Scotland) Act.
Limited prison time
Solicitor Virgil Crawford, defending, said first offender Frost still maintains her innocence and now suffers from anxiety and is receiving sick pay.
Sheriff Clair McLachlan, who had originally warned Frost she could be jailed, said she had not appreciated the Act laid down a maximum prison term of three months, which would be “of limited effect”.
Fining Frost £1,040, she told her: “This was an offence that very significant consequences, both in terms of the public purse and in terms of public safety.
“It’s a serious matter and the fine must reflect that.”
Identified by voice
During the trial, the court heard the call was received by Scottish Fire and Rescue at 1.15 pm on January 17 2024.
It was traced to a fixed phone in a nappy-changing room at the Stirling Council-run nursery.
Giving evidence, PC Frickleton said she listened to a recording of the call and was “100% certain” the voice was Frost’s, whom she had known for eight years.
A nappy-changing log identified Frost had been in the room at the time of the call and two other members of staff at the nursery also identified her voice.
Detective Constable Gavin Dingwall, who headed the police interview of Frost, said he was “stumped” as to why she had committed the offence.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
