A Brighton man who called 999 and threatened to bomb the NHS was warned today if he gets into any more trouble, he’ll be going straight to prison.
James Boyce, 42, spoke to call handlers for both police and ambulance, threatening them and saying he had a bomb and that “England is going to get bombed one way or another”.
He then added “Allah, Allah, Islam”, before hanging up.
During the calls, made from his then home in The Drive, Hove in March 2023 using two different mobile phones, he also said NHS workers didn’t deserve their pay rises and they would soon be dead.
Prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court today, Chetna Patel said the two phones were traced to Boyce, and officers went to his flat.
She said: “He collapsed on the with what appeared to be a seizure. That stopped after five minutes and he was fully compliant.
“Officers rang the numbers used to make the call and both phones were heard ringing in the property and were seized.”
The court was told Boyce has been held at a psychiatric facility since 22 May, but medics said after assessments they found no evidence of psychiatric disorders.
He told one he didn’t have any mental problems, but just liked drinking cider and taking crack cocaine.
Defending, Sarah Thorne asked that he not be given any sentence which required attending appointments as that would be “setting him up to fail”.
Although he had spent almost a month in effective custody at the psychiatric facility, this time cannot count towards any custodial sentence – and the starting point for this offence would be just a few weeks in prison.
Sentencing, Judge Stephen Mooney, who at an earlier point in the hearing had told Boyce he was behaving like “a moron of collossal proportions” when he gestured over the videolink from the psychiatric facility, said: “That was a really horrid thing to do.
“You are now as well as you have been for a long time.
“You havn’t had a drink or crack cocaine for a while and you have been given very good treatment.
“If you carry on in this way your life isn’t going to improve. That’s a choice only you can make and you are going to have to make it.
“If you do, you are not going to make 45.
“I’m going to give you a conditional discharge. I need to make a victim surcharge order, and will make a collection order for that – it will never get paid.
“If you see me again, I’m sending you to prison.”
Boyce answered: “Okay judge, fair enough”. The hearing then concluded.
Wow, very worrying.
That sounds like a regular weekend.
So proven there was not psychiatric issues and was related to drug and alcohol abuse and gets away with a slap on the wrists and a fine.
Yet some people with significant mental health issues, who have committed a crime while having a mental health episode, get probation, big fines and some even sent to prison.
The justice system is getting weaker in this country by the day.
Unbelievable…
Hm. Realistically, though, the extent of what he did was to make a prank call. Addiction is a problem in itself, and he doesn’t sound like the smartest person in the world. He sounds pathetic more than anything. I don’t think I’d want him wasting a prison cell.
In their wisdom, Brighton & Hove Council housed this man James Boyce in low-security temporary accommodation in Eastbourne following his trial. He is now back on £80 crack cocaine and 12 litres of cider a day and has made the lives of the other tenants in the property a misery. Screaming and shouting out of windows “Oi, you p*do! Oi, you d*ckhead! Oi, you c*unt!” Doing this to women, small children and families. He urinated out of windows and defecated all over the floor. He got into constant fights and everyone in the property wanted him evicted. Now, fianlly, after committing numerous public order offences and class A drug offences (about which the police have done nothing) he’s being moved to another property, also in Eastbourne. How in hell the doctors are saying he does not have a psychiatric disorder is beyond me. Just another case of NHS failure. The judge was right, he won’t make it to 45, you just have to spend 10 minutes with him to see that. In the meantime: avoid.