Three ambulances and two police cars responded when a woman with “a mild learning disability” made a hoax 999 call to say a man had been stabbed at her ex-partner’s home.
Teresa Lee (26), of Stennet Avenue, Spalding, was angry with her ex – 72-year-old Trevor Carter – for allegedly not returning her Xbox games.
Prosecutor Jim Clare said Lee made phone calls to Mr Carter that day, November 30, and told him at one point: “Right, now s**t’s going to happen.”
Emergency services attended Mr Carter’s Thames Road home at 7pm.
Mr Clare said Mr Carter told police he heard a loud bang at the front of his bungalow – when glass in his front door was smashed – and then saw blue lights out in the road. He believed his ex-partner, Lee, was responsible for the 999 call.
He said police found Lee in Acacia Avenue – she had a cut hand from smashing the glass and was carrying the mobile phone used to make the 999 call.
Solicitor Roger Lowther, mitigating, said Lee and Mr Carter were in a relationship for about six years, but it ended in 2012.
She had since asked Mr Carter to look after her Xbox and games but, with Christmas approaching, decided she wanted to sell them and asked for them back.
Mr Lowther said Mr Carter returned the Xbox, but not the games and the texts and phone calls from Lee related to their return.
“When Mr Carter would not play ball, Miss Lee took it upon herself to walk from her home address to Mr Carter’s address, from one side of Spalding to the other, to retrieve those games herself,” he said.
Mr Lowther said Lee couldn’t explain why she rang the emergency services to say someone had been stabbed – she made no attempt to block her number and could have made the call from a public telephone box.
He said Lee, who has a mild learning disability, didn’t fully appreciate how seriously the emergency services would take that report and is extremely sorry.
Sentence was adjourned to January 20 at Boston Magistrates’ Court so a probation report can be prepared.
Lee admitted sending a false message by a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety and to criminally damaging a pane of glass.