Sheerness nuisance caller who wasted police time jailed

Sharna Dixon called the police, ambulance service and coastguard hundreds of times

A nuisance caller who cost emergency services nearly £500,000 in wasted resources has been jailed.

Sharna Dixon, 27, made more than 700 malicious calls to police, ambulance service and Coastguard between November 2017 and February 2020, and also pushed a police officer into a canal.

At Maidstone Crown Court, she admitted malicious communications and grievous bodily harm without intent.

Dixon, of Richmond Road, Sheerness, was jailed for 18 months.

She made 473 calls to the South East Coast Ambulance Service, believed to have cost the NHS £93,654.

Dixon also called Kent Police 162 times and the Kent Coastguard 67 times, with the cost in wasted Coastguard resources estimated to be £350,000.

She also called other support services despite not genuinely needing help.

In one incident, Dixon called police out to a canal in Minster on Sea, and pushed an officer into the water when he found her.

The officer sustained a broken wrist and grazes.