Amanda Baker arrives for her hearing at Canterbury Magistrates Court

by Alex Claridge

A woman who made dozens of drunken 999 calls to police has been ordered to do alcohol rehab.

Amanda Baker, from Canterbury, called the emergency number to talk to operators on subjects such as her dog, back pain, the fact she had no money and to a make false claim about a man in her home.

City magistrates heard the 49-year-old's calls were often rambling and slurred or made to find out why police had visited her the day before.

Baker, of Whitehall Bridge Road, admitted wasting police time between September 25 and November 29 last year.

She accepted being in breach of a conditional discharge for wasting police time and asked for another like offence on January 8 to be taken into account.

Many of the calls led to officers going to her house to check on her.

Rachael Laughland, prosecuting, said Baker – who fell asleep in the dock and could be heard snoring loudly during the hearing – had been given the conditional discharge on September 20 for making 24 wasteful calls to police.

Canterbury magistrates court, where the case was heard

But she said that on at 1.20am September 25, Baker again took to ringing 999.

She said she had no money and wanted to talk to the crisis team before calling later to say that her son had breached his community service.

"She called police again and was difficult to understand, saying she wanted to kill someone and then talking about her dog," Miss Laughland said.

"There were more calls in the early hours of October 11 to ask why police had visited her the night before. The defendant was also talking about a historic assault, back pain and her dog. She was rambling and drunk.

"Another call later that day thanked police who had visited her and been kind to her and played with her puppy."

Miss Laughland said Baker then moved from a house in Wincheap to her current home and called police to tell them she was alive and had moved home.

This was followed by further calls in which she made threats to harm herself and her dog.

Miss Laughland went on: "November 15 saw more calls. She said he had been beaten up the night before in one call and then another call in which she said there was a man in her flat who was being aggressive. Police attended and found she was alone."

Magistrates gave Baker a 12-month community order with supervision and six months of alcohol treatment. She must also pay £85 costs and a £15 surcharge.