British man Richard William Cove called medical hotline 1,200 times to satisfy his foot fetish

According to police, a taxpayer-funded medical hotline was repeatedly contacted by a British man with a foot fetish, posing as an elderly woman in an attempt to force the operators to talk about their feet.

According to the police, 45-year-old Richard William Cove, a resident of Worthing, called the National Health Service (NHS) 1,263 times over the course of two years. The number 111 connects callers to a non-emergency version of 911 and offers assistance.

Authorities claimed that between April 2019 and April 2021, calls to 111 about foot fetish incurred service fees exceeding $30,000.

“He admitted making all the calls, and that they were all for his own enjoyment and personal benefit,” in a statement on Wednesday, Sussex Police’s David Quayle made reference to.

“He said he had a sexual foot fetish which he indulged during most of the calls,” he added.

In an apparent attempt to get operators to talk about their feet, Cove reportedly called the hotline, provided a variety of false addresses, usually masking his voice, and pretended to be a “elderly woman” discussing fictitious foot issues.

The foot-obsessive prank caller was tracked down by authorities after NHS 111 received a complaint from a person complaining that they were constantly getting follow-up calls from the hotline even though they had never requested assistance, according to Sussex Police.

Authorities revealed that the grievance ultimately came from a person who had been used as a fictitious contact in Cove’s fraudulent hotline calls. Ambulances were dispatched to the addresses in response to more fraudulent phone calls, police said.

On Tuesday, Cove entered a guilty plea in court to the charge of malicious communications. He will be sentenced on September 13.