A WORSBROUGH Common woman whose phony police calls wasted more than £95,000 of force money has been jailed for three years.
Courtney Lowe, 23, of Dillington Square, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on December 14, charged with breaching her criminal behaviour order (CBO).
Lowe was given a CBO by the Barnsley Safer Neighbourhood Service, a team whose staff work alongside partners such as the council, social care, mental health and support agencies to manage high-demand service users to reduce the impact they have on funded services.
From 2021, she made 82 calls to the police - 46 of which required officers to be deployed - and more than 1,000 hours of work was lost.
In addition to wasted police resources, Lowe made false allegations of taking overdoes and self-harming, causing unnecessary pressure to the NHS and mental health services.
PC Mark Whittaker said: “Lowe is one individual who in 2019 was responsible for a sudden demand on services.
“Despite her behaviours there has been a team of mental health professionals, social workers, and other support agencies working with Lowe to try to support her.
“However, in this time Lowe has assaulted NHS staff, nurses, doctors, security staff and officers over 30 times.
“As Lowe’s behaviour became more challenging and criminal, an initial attempt was made to set clear boundaries and manager her behaviour through service of a community protection notice (CPN).
“In June 2022, following repeated breaches, we applied for a criminal behaviour order (CBO) which was granted by the courts.”
But she began re-offending almost immediately, and has now been jailed for three years.
“At court, we presented evidence of the impact that Lowe had upon services,” PC Whittaker added.
“In July and August 2023, the ambulance service estimated that servicing calls from Lowe alone cost £4,779.
“Taking account of costs of call handling, emergency response and police investigation, as well as costs of police custody Lowe’s behaviour in three years has impacted upon South Yorkshire Police to the cost £95,416.
“This is time and money that could have been invested into the needs of victims of crime and keeping the communities of South Yorkshire safe.”
