Lifeboat crewman made hoax coastguard calls in Moray

A man who was a lifeboat crew member has admitted making a spate of hoax coastguard calls.

Leon Marandola, 20, was a member of the Buckie RNLI crew in Moray when the incidents happened between 17 June and 25 August 2019.

At Elgin Sheriff Court, he admitted repeatedly breaching the Communications Act by knowingly providing false information.

Sentence on the first-time offender was deferred for background reports.

Marandola admitted repeatedly sending messages he knew to be false through VHF radio and 999 calls and indirectly through posting on Facebook for the purpose of causing "annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety" to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The charge said he stated that vessels or persons were requiring rescue at sea when he knew this was not true.

Marandola is to be sentenced in June

Defence lawyer Kevin Anderson said Marandola, who was not present in court, was pleading guilty.

Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov deferred sentence for social work and restriction of liberty order assessment reports, and Marandola will be sentenced in June.

After the hearing, the RNLI said: "Calls of this nature, where the perpetrator knows no life is at risk not only waste time and resources but also endanger the lives of those who could need our services, only to find them unavailable or able to reach them in time.

"As an organisation we are, of course, disappointed that these calls have been made by a person previously connected to our lifeboat station. The person is no longer a volunteer with us."

'Vital resources'

Police Scotland said its "complex inquiry" involved working with telecommunications regulator Ofcom.

Specialist equipment was used to capture Marandola's transmissions and to analyse data to work out the area where the calls were made.

Det Con John Riddell said: "Marandola abused his position making a series of hoax calls which not only caused considerable expense to the organisations but, moreover, put staff and volunteers at unnecessary risk."

The coastguard said it welcomed the guilty plea.

HM Coastguard divisional commander Sue Todd said: "Hoax calls are taken extremely seriously as they tie up vital life-saving resources and risk taking them away from those who are actually in need.

"We will therefore always work with the relevant authorities to fully investigate and will seek to pursue a prosecution."