MALICIOUS phone calls made by a Tranmere man on occasions led to an ambulance, paramedics and the fire brigade attending at a Birkenhead address, Wirral magistrates were told by prosecutor Neil Tyrell.

Arthur Andrew Williams, 39, of Seymour Street, Tranmere, pleaded guilty to three offences of persistently making use of the telephone for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety.

Mr Tyrell said a Mr Leathwood lived near the general store and off licence where Williams worked part time. Mr Leathwood complained about noise and other problems and it led to trouble, the phone calls and arrival of emergency services at his home.

He recognised the voice of Williams when tapes of calls to the emergency services were played. Williams was seen and agreed he had made the calls from telephone boxes.

Quentin Neale, defending, said Williams was a vulnerable person and easily misled. The matters before the court were a classic example of this. The shopkeeper who employed him used him to make the calls to cause nuisance to the neighbour.

Williams was conditionally discharged for a year but had to pay £150 compensation to Mr Leathwood for the trouble caused.

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