Nuisance Leeds caller phoned police 100 times over noisy neighbour

Paul Kirby has been handed a criminal behaviour order (CBO) for being abusive towards call handlers on the emergency number, along with the non-emergency number, 101, over an 18-month period.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Kirby was originally given a community protection notice letter in January 2020 forbidding him to call unless it was a genuine emergency or to report a crime.

But between January and October he called 66 times and was warned again, before a further 37 calls were logged before June 2021.

Prosecutor Alex Menary said the 56-year-old’s behaviour was linked to an ongoing noise dispute with his neighbour at the time. He said that despite attempts to help him, the handlers were often “unable to take a coherent complaint from him”.

It was heard that he would become irate and swear at staff, and would complain about police officers. He was eventually charged with two counts of being a public nuisance on February 1, 2021 and again on March 9, 2021.

For the first offence, he made six calls, while for the second he made five calls in the space of 20 minutes, making complaints about the police. He admitted both offences.

Kirby, of Langdale Road, Woodlesford, was not represented in court by a barrister, but Judge Penelope Belcher hinted towards existing health issues, including obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, which can often lead to communication problems and hypersensitivity to noise.

Judge Belcher told him: “It does take you as long time to explain what you want to put across. It would not be right to send you to prison. It would be totally inappropriate, but it is a concern. These are serious matters.”

Instead, she gave Kirby a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation requirement days.

He was also the given the CBO which will last for 12 months. It stipulates that he can not call 999 unless it is a genuine emergency, or call the non-emergency number 101 unless it is to report a crime. She warned Kirkby that breaching the order is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.