BESZCZYNSKI: HOAX CALLER FACING JAIL

A former insurance broker who made 13 hoax calls to the emergency services in a single night is facing jail.

Roland Beszczynski, 61, sent police officers scrambling to his flat after he told call handlers there was a gas leak and he was just about to light up a cigarette.

He also told ambulance service operators his 87-year-old mother was suffering from fevers and a heart attack when she had a clean bill of health.

Linda Shamel, prosecuting, said Beszczynski had made his first 999 call at around 2.55am on January 6 this year and asked to be connected to the ambulance service.

‘He was uncooperative, verbally aggressive, failed to provide suitable answers to questions and refused to give his name,’ she told City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

‘He said he needed an ambulance for his mother Nancy, but when asked for her symptoms he refused to say what was wrong.’

Four more calls then followed in quick succession, with Beszczynski telling the operator during one: ‘If I was a terrorist, you’d be here in five minutes.’

He continued to make 999 calls and after 5am asked to be connected to the police.

‘He said he had a gas leak,’ said Ms Shamel.

‘When the operator advised him not to smoke he said he was going to light up a cigarette.’

In other calls to the police Beszczynski told the operator ‘I’m dying’ and claimed he was being harassed by workmen outside his house, she added.

When officers eventually forced their way into his flat and arrested him, he told them: ‘Who the f*ck are you talking bollocks to, mate?’

Neil Allan, for Beszczynski, admitted his client had previous convictions relating to hoax calls.

‘This all stems back to ten years ago,’ he said.

‘He didn’t feel capable of doing his job any more and locked himself in his office.

‘He seems to have suffered from depression and anxiety from that point onwards.

‘As a coping mechanism he started to drink and this seems to be what he does when he gets himself into a particular state.’

District Judge Andrew Turner adjourned the case to allow probation officers to assess Beszczynski’s suitability for alcohol treatment.

He told him: ‘You could not complain whatsoever if I was to impose a long prison term in view of your persistent hoax calls.

‘The result has been a huge waste of the emergency services’ time and public money.

‘You do not know how many people might have been saved from serious harm or even death if they had happened to get to them earlier.’

Beszczynski, of (Flat J, 64) Bessborough Place, Pimlico, central London, admitted three charges of using a communication network to cause annoyance or inconvenience.

He will next appear in court on October 11 to be sentenced.
ends.