A NEWCASTLE Emlyn man has been jailed for five months after he admitted making repeated nuisance 999 calls to the emergency services while subject to a suspended sentence for identical offences.

Malcolm Roy Edwards, 48, of Station Road, appeared before Aberystwyth Magistrates last week to admit persistently using a public communications network for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience.

The court heard how Edwards made multiple calls to the ambulance service on February 6.

Prosecutor Rhian Jones described how Edwards first called 999 at 6.33pm and told the operator he had been in hospital after a failed suicide bid and was “feeling low”.

Police officers went to Edwards’ home but found him safe and well.

Edwards called the emergency services a second time at 8.30pm and told the operator he had “had enough” and was again feeling suicidal.

When officers returned to the property they found Edwards lying in his bed with a sheet covering him.

He denied he had called 999, but the officers noted he was drunk and slurring his words.

When the sheet was removed, officers saw that Edwards had a pair of scissors in one hand and he was poised to harm himself.

When they attempted to arrest him for his own safety, Edwards began to struggle and the officers used a Taser to subdue him.

Alan Lewis, defending, told the court Edwards had worked for Ceredigion County Council for 32 years before losing his job due to alcohol dependency issues.

“He has tried to kill himself before and has damage to his frontal lobe due to alcohol abuse,” said Mr Lewis.

“He wasn’t trying to cause problems and sometimes he has no recollection of his actions.

Magistrates jailed Edwards to four weeks for the offence and activated the custodial element of the earlier sentences.

Edwards was jailed for a further eight weeks for making multiple nuisance 999 calls on December 30, 2016, and another eight weeks for an identical offence committed on January 17.

Magistrates ordered both sentences to run consecutively with the four-week jail term imposed for the most recent offence.

Edwards also received a further eight-week prison term, to run concurrently, for making ten separate nuisance 999 calls on January 25.

“This is a sad situation all around,” Mr Lewis told the court.