A Templeton pensioner, previously jailed for making drunken nuisance phone calls to the police, has been handed another prison sentence after admitting further offences.

Sixty-nine-year-old Ann Gateley, of Cold Blow, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, charged with persistently making use of a public communications network for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another.

Prosecutor Ellie Morgan told magistrates that they were probably aware of Mrs. Gateley’s record already.

“She is a known alcoholic who when intoxicated contacts the police through the 999 emergency line, for no known reason,” explained Ms Morgan, informing the court that the defendant had recently been imprisoned for previous offences and released in January.

The court heard how over a 19-day period in February, Mrs. Gateley made 15 nuisance calls to the police.

“On one occasion she told officers that she was being robbed, and when they went to her home address, they found her intoxicated,” she continued.

In several further calls to the 999 number, Mrs. Gateley claimed in a ‘mumbling’ voice that she was being drugged, robbed again, and that her husband was threatening to kill her, magistrates were told.

“One time police arrived at Mrs. Gateley’s home and found her surrounded by alcohol and pretending to be asleep. Other times officers have arrived and she has refused to let them in,” continued Ms Morgan.

“Another occasion she threatened to set her dogs on officers and became aggressive towards ambulance staff after she had called them out complaining of chest pains,” she added.

Defence solicitor, Mr. Jonathan Webb told the court that Mrs. Gateley had moved down to the area some years ago with her husband and they had run an extremely successful caravan park in the Narberth area.

“She’s had a fall from grace and stumbled into alcohol,” he said.

“One glass of wine in the day had developed into a serious problem. Now for some inexplicable reason she phones the police when she’s drunk, and has already served six months in jail for it.

“Mrs. Gateley lives by herself in a rural area and is separated from her husband. She knows that one of two things are going to happen if she carries on drinking - she’s either going to end up continuously going back to jail or end up dead!”

“She is battling the disease and tells me that she hasn’t had a drink for a couple of days. Essentially she is living a hermit’s lifestyle and when it gets dark she gets scared and does stupid things,” added Mr. Webb.

Magistrates told Mrs. Gateley that these were again a number of very serious offences she had committed, before giving her a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Mrs. Gateley was warned by magistrates that if she committed another offence during this time, she would end up in jail again.

The defendant was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and an £80 victim surcharge.