A man has been given a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order after he called the police for than 60 times over an 18-month period.

Richard Bean-Woods, 44, from Southtown Road, Great Yarmouth pleaded guilty on Wednesday, July 27, to, 'persistently making use of a public electronic, communications network for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another'.

He was sentenced on Monday, September 5, and given a suspended sentence and the Criminal Behaviour Order.

The order comes after Bean-Woods committed offences under the Communications Act 2003. This included calling the police more than 60 times during an 18-month period.

A large amount of these calls were found to be false allegations or where fictional situations had been created.

The provisions set out in the CBO stated Bean-Woods must not:

• Act in a way that causes or is likely to cause nuisance, annoyance, alarm or distress to anyone not of the same household; including the use of foul, offensive, abusive or threatening language or behaviours against anyone, anywhere in a public place or to incite any other person to do this on your behalf.

• Contact the emergency services via 999, 101 or 111 telephone numbers, or ask or expect anyone else to do so on your behalf, unless in a genuine emergency.

• Make allegations or accusations to emergency services or other agencies against anyone that are false or exaggerated, or ask anyone else to do so on your behalf.

Sergeant Caroline Adams, from Great Yarmouth OPT, said: 'When someone contacts the police with false claims it can cause an extensive drain on resources. Whilst answering these calls officers cannot be deployed to real emergencies. The use of CBOs will reduce unwanted calls and allow us to respond more effectively to genuine incidents. This particular CBO will last 5 years and if breached will mean a criminal offence is committed and Bean-Woods will be liable to further action.'

If you would like to raise concerns of anti-social behaviour the Great Yarmouth Operational Partnership Team can be contacted by calling Norfolk Police on 101.