WORTHING, WEST SUSSEX — Richard William Cove, then 45, of Boundary Road, rang NHS 111 — the non-emergency medical line — 1,263 times over two years. He posed as an elderly woman. He steered the conversation to feet. Sussex Police said he told them he had a sexual foot fetish he indulged on most of the calls. The bill to the NHS was £21,869.21. Some of the fake calls sent ambulances to addresses that had not asked for them. He admitted malicious communications at Worthing Magistrates’ Court. In September 2021 he received a 16-week prison sentence suspended for two years. The BBC and the New York Post printed the count.
He later picked up a separate 10-week suspended term for similar calls to police 101. The AEGIS Alliance will not dress this up as a victimless kink. A fetish that occupies a medical hotline is a theft of ambulances. Related: the Queensland grandma who tackled a purse snatcher and more 奇异新闻.
