DEREK IRONS FROM HATTON JAILED FOR DRUNKEN 999 CALLS IN WARINGTON

In August 2019, Derek Irons, a known sex offender from Hatton, was sentenced to jail after a series of disruptive and abusive calls made to emergency services. The incident involved Irons repeatedly dialing both the 999 emergency number and the non-emergency 101 line while intoxicated, with the calls spanning from late Sunday evening into early Monday morning.

Between 11 pm on July 21 and 8 am on July 22, Irons made a total of 22 calls using two different mobile phones. Notably, none of these calls involved reporting any actual emergencies or ongoing incidents. Instead, the majority of the calls were characterized by abusive language directed at the staff answering the calls. In one particular call to the non-emergency number 101, Irons made a series of bizarre and provocative statements, saying: “I bet you can’t guess who I am. I’m going to give you all my life story – I’m drunk you see, that’s all. I know I’m forbidden from ringing 999 – are you 101? That’s great, how much a minute am I being charged? 15p, is that all? You know the government’s going to shut you down next year don’t you?”

Irons, aged 75 and residing on Goose Lane in Hatton, has a long history of problematic behavior. Fourteen years prior, he was issued an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) that made him the oldest person in Warrington to receive such a restriction. The order was part of efforts to curb his disruptive conduct, which included attempting to befriend children on their way to school, peering through residents’ windows, and showing up uninvited at their homes to ask inappropriate questions. On one occasion, he entered a private residence without permission and made himself a cup of tea.

The ASBO explicitly prohibited Irons from engaging in activities such as starting fires, exposing himself, urinating in public, speaking to anyone under 16 or women without consent, and entering an exclusion zone on Hatton Lane. It also barred him from entering private properties, riding buses during school commute times, and being intoxicated or carrying alcohol in public places.

Despite these restrictions, Irons was found to have breached his criminal behaviour order four times. On July 31, at Warrington Magistrates Court, he admitted to these violations and was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison. The force control centre manager, Dave McMahon, emphasized the seriousness of Irons’ actions, stating: “Irons’ drunken calls could have delayed a genuine emergency call from the public. He was also a nuisance to staff in the force control centre who had to endure his abuse. Despite the criminal behaviour order put in place to prevent him from making these calls, he chose to ignore it and is now serving 26 weeks for the repeated breach.”

McMahon further explained the importance of the role played by call handlers, noting: “Call handlers have a very important role to play and they are the first point of contact when the public need the police’s help. They are often dealing with very complex and difficult live situations, making calls like these extremely disruptive and preventing them from dealing with those who really need our help. I hope this highlights to others that we do investigate cases where members of the public misuse the emergency and non-emergency lines, and will seek a prosecution for those who continue to potentially put others at risk and abuse our staff.”