Drunk who scrambled two helicopters in 999 scare escapes jail

Jason Robey, 25, claiming to be his brother Michael, told the operator he had leapt into the River Ouse in Selby, last January. As a result, a Sea King helicopter was launched from RAF Boulmer 140 miles away in Northumberland.

A second helicopter was scrambled by Humberside Police, as a rescue boat left York and dozens of police officers, fire officers and paramedics headed to the scene anticipating a dramatic rescue attempt.

But it later transpired that when Robey made the call at 2.15am, he and his brother were safe and sound at home.

Today Robey escaped jail after earlier admitting a charge of wasting police time.

Prosecutor Michael Hammond told Selby Magistrates Court that the emergency services received a call saying that Jason Robey had leapt from a bridge in the town.

He said: "As a result, police and fire service resources were deployed, a Humberside Police helicopter and an RAF helicopter were brought in as part of the process of the search.

"Subsequently, the defendant was traced and interviewed and made a full and frank admission regarding the phone call."

The RAF helicopter was stood down before it reached the scene. The Humberside Police aircraft costs 1,000 an hour to deploy. The total cost of the operation and the court case was 5,750.

Defending, Liam Hassan said: "There was no logical reason why he made the hoax call that night.

"He was drinking heavily at the time as he had recently split up from his girlfriend. He has suffered from depression for two years and following the incident spent a month under the care of a mental health team in Selby."

Sentencing him to eight weeks in prison suspended for one year, chairman Wendy Bromwich branded his actions "despicable".

He was also given a 12-month supervision order, told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, attend an alcohol programme and pay 250 costs.

Sgt Phil Holliday, of Selby Police, said: "We treat every call on its merit. We couldn't think anything else other than it was genuine and the person at the other end of the phone kept affirming it was a genuine emergency.

'Ultimately it turned out that this was what appears to be drunken foolishness which not only drains police resources, but leaves a lot of people short should they also need those resources."