Investment banker racially abused 999 staff

An investment banker who caused a terrorism scare after racially abusing 999 operators has escaped jail.

Drunken Dimitri Toseland, 52, called police call handlers Duncan Quashie and Diana Huynh ‘f***ing negros’ in the early hours of 30 November.

Toseland had originally called 999 in the early hours of the morning to report ‘an incident that happened in a bar,’ Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court heard.

Police rushed to his home after he declared ‘this is a terrorist incident, come now’ because they refused to give a crime reference number for his inebriated report.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Toseland worked as investment banker at Bank of America before moving on to property development in south west London.

After sobering up at the police station the next day he refused legal advice and apologised to officers for his ‘idiotic’ behaviour.

But Toseland then delayed magistrates by 15-months after failing to attend court at least eight times to face two charges of ‘persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety’.

Reasons for his failure to attend included ‘long Covid’ and not receiving official letters.

He did not plead guilty until 19 January, a year and two days after he was first summoned to court.

Toseland eventually admitted the offences by video-link from his home, which he again appeared for sentencing.

‘On the 30th of November 2019 in the early hours of the morning Mr Toseland made a phone call to the police about an incident that happened in a bar,’ said Colette Hanna, prosecuting.

‘In the background of the call the operator could hear swearing and recall remarks in respect of someone there using the word ‘negro’.

‘They became more aggravated as the call went on.

‘He called repeatedly, was abusive, during the calls he said ‘are you black? Are you black? f*cking negro’ then called to get the CRIS number.

‘They did get a call again, he stated ‘this is a terrorist incident, come right now’.

‘They attended his address using the 999 system to trace him and he was arrested.’

‘One of the call handlers had to leave work early that day they were so shocked at the call.’

Toseland admitted using the offensive language during his police interview and ‘expressed remorse and disgust’ at the phone calls.

Emma-Louise Heath, defending, quoted extracts from Toseland’s police interview where he declared ‘I deeply regret saying this’ and ‘this is not how I behave’.

She added: ‘I don’t know what switch in my brain went, but it was not my intention to harass police officers on duty.’

Ms Heath continued: ‘It is perhaps extremely unfortunate that he found himself before you today.

‘Until 2005 he was a prominent investment banker, his mental health did take a dramatic turn.

‘Now he suddenly finds himself before this court.

‘In 2005 he was admitted to The Priory, he suffers from a major affectively illness, with anxiety and obsession symptoms, claustrophobia and OCD.

‘That has been recognised by medical reports.

‘He clearly understands the detrimental impacts of what’s happened,

‘He asked this morning, ‘am I going to prison?’

‘He couldn’t come to court because of long Covid.’

‘He can do unpaid work which is not manual.

Magistrates’ bench chair Vanessa Weguelin said: ‘It is clear this has dragged on for months, it was 15 months ago.

‘Nevertheless it does not diminish the behaviour you exhibited to the call handlers, it’s clear that you were very drunk and are remorseful, and the racist abuse the two had to suffer from your behaviour is just simply not acceptable.

‘You need to take responsibility and it’s clear that you have done.’

Toseland, of Onslow Avenue, Richmond-upon-Thames, admitted two counts of persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety and was sentenced to a twelve month community order with 150 hours unpaid work.

The magistrate added 50 hours of unpaid work for the ‘racial element’ of the offence.

Toseland was also ordered to pay £195 compensation, £85 victim surcharge and £95 costs