A “very lonely” sex pest bombarded NHS 119 call handlers with hundreds of sexualised calls and told them he was masturbating.
Jamie Hemmett, 47, phoned the Covid helpline 260 times in July, August and September last year – hanging up when a male answered.
When a female answered the line, the alcoholic used sexual language and claimed to be pleasuring himself as they spoke.
The calls, which were said to have caused some NHS staff “upset and distress”, lasted anywhere between a few seconds and 25 minutes.
In an unrelated incident in August, the alcoholic touched a stranger below her breast on a bus – before saying “I’m going to f*** you.”
Appearing at Swindon Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on Friday (11/02), the bench heard how “very lonely” Hemmett would drink about five litres of cider every day.
Prosecutor Keith Ballinger said the defendant, of Argyle Street, Gorse Hill, Swindon, Wilts., had made one legitimate phone call to the 119 Covid helpline, but “he found the first female voice he spoke to very attractive.”
He added: “Because he enjoyed the female voice he continued to make calls
“On many of those calls he would give his name and he would tell female call handlers he was masturbating. He would use inappropriate sexual language.
“If a male person answered he would either ask to speak to a female or hang up and call again.
“His behaviour caused NHS employees upset and distress.”
The unrelated sexual assault, which took place in the middle of the string of offending against NHS call handlers, happened on a bus.
Hemmett was travelling on the same bus as his victim, who was sitting on the same row but on the opposite side of the aisle.
“She heard him whispering something over and over, it was getting louder, he was saying ‘f*** me’”, Mr Ballinger told the court.
He added: “He appeared to be getting more and more excited. She glanced over, he licked his lips.”
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The woman moved to the front of the bus, near another passenger. But Hemmett followed her, bent over and repeated the obscenities, before touching the woman below the breast.
As the bus stopped, the other passenger got off, but Hemmett said: “I’m going to f*** her now” and followed her off the bus.
The bus driver managed to get the victim back on the bus and dropped her off at a different stop.
Gordon Hotson, defending, said his client was getting help for alcohol and mental health issues.
“I’d ask you to accept that although a very unpleasant and frightening experience, it was only fleeting, it was not prolonged, perhaps given that together with the guilty plea, you would feel able to come down to the lower end of that [sentencing] range”, he said.
Magistrates decided not to imposed a prison sentence, instead sentencing him to a community order – which will involve work to help him address his ongoing issues.
The chair of the bench said that Hemmett’s actions left the passengers feeling “vulnerable, threatened and scared”, and said that his drinking habits needed to be addressed.
During the 24-month community order, he must complete 60 rehabilitation activity days and a six-month mental health treatment requirement.
Hemmett, who had previously admitted sexual assault, using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and a malicious communications offence, must sign the sex offenders register for five years and pay a victim surcharge of £95.
