Woman in breach of ASBO order

A WOMAN who breached her anti-social behaviour order by making frivolous and unnecessary 999 calls has been put under supervision.

Mandy Clarke, 49, who was also in breach of a conditional discharge, must also attend treatment for her alcohol problem.

Recorder Peter Williamson warned her that if she breached any of her orders she could be sent to prison.

Clarke, of Old Bridge Court, Shefford, pleaded guilty to breaching the ASBO and a conditional discharge.

Kate Tompkins, prosecuting at Luton Crown Court on Friday, said the ASBO was made in June last year and one part of it banned her from making frivolous and unnecessary 999 calls.

But on August 9 she made two calls in the afternoon to Bedfordshire Police. In the first she refused to give her name but complained of "comings and goings" at the flats where she lived. In the second she said she needed assistance to move out.

When interviewed she said she was suffering from depression but had not taken her medication. A neighbour had been slamming doors all day which upset her.

On October 9 she made another 999 call to Dunstable police. "It was a long conversation but she was making little sense and her words were slurred," said the prosecution. She was arrested the following day.

Miss Tompkins said those offences put her in breach of a conditional discharge for common assault committed in April 2005 on a young electrician who had gone to her flat to carry out a repair.

Kevin Welsh, defending, said: "The death of her mother has affected her deeply and her conduct is spiralling out of control in some ways.

"She does realise she has to stick to what the courts have barred her from doing and also recognises now that she has a problem with alcohol and to her credit has sought help herself."

She was given a community order with two years' supervision and alcohol treatment.