Pester Mark Clayton bombarded Sheffield police with sex appeals

A Sheffield man has bombarded South Yorkshire Police’s control room with calls to tell operators about his sex life.

Pest Mark Clayton, 59, made 19 calls in one day to the 999 control room where he made a series of false allegations and sexual comments to staff between October 18 and 19 in 2023. Clayton denied the allegation of sending an offensive, indecent, obscene and/or threatening message over a public communications network and breaching a restraining order.

However, after failing to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on March 15, Clayton, of Periwood Lane, Sheffield, was found guilty in his absence. Clayton was then sentenced to 18 weeks in prison on Monday (June 10).

Read more: The frown on the face of the man who threw a machete at the officer after a 20-year ‘trouble’ with the police

He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154, £300 costs and was handed a Criminal Behavior Order (CBO) which is valid for two years.

CBO prohibits Clayton from:

• Using verbal abuse towards any emergency service operator that obstructs, hinders or restricts staff doing their job, including using strong, abusive or sexualised language
• Making any reports to the police, unless the police reasonably believe that the report is true and accurate.
• Contacting any emergency service, the emergency services number 999 or 101 or by email, text or any other method, except in a genuine emergency and will not incite, encourage or instruct others to do so

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PC Paul Brunt, the officer in charge of the case, said: “Clayton’s actions have taken valuable time away from our call handlers who should have been helping people dealing with real emergencies. Our staff carry out high pressure work, often helping people in their darkest hour. and to treat it with this disrespect is shocking.

“I hope this result sends a strong message to those considering making hoax calls to the police.”

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