London woman who called 999 more than 2,000 times is jailed for campaign of abuse

Sonia Nixon was branded a ‘massive drain’ for her nuisance 999 calls
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A woman who called 999 more than 2,000 times in a campaign of abuse against emergency workers has been jailed for 22 weeks.

Sonia Nixon, 56, is one of the worst offenders in London for making nuisance emergency calls, and has been dubbed a “massive drain” on police resources.

Scotland Yard said she has made 1,194 calls to the 999 line in the last year alone, often to use “vile and racist language” towards call handlers.

Nixon, who lives in Lyon Road in Harrow, northwest London, was arrested in January by Greenhill and Harrow on the Hill Safer Neighbourhood Teams, and she was charged with 668 nuisance calls to the emergency services between July and December last year - said to have cost the Met Police £4,500.

At Willesden magistrates court, she admitted the charge, and also pleaded guilty to criminal damage by urinating in a police van, failing to surrender to court after she was first charged, and racially abusing police officers who arrested her for a second time in mid-March.

Nixon was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison, as the court concluded she had been “operating as a professional criminal” with a “flagrant disregard for people and their property”.

“This was a superb result and testament to the hard work and dedication of the community policing team to bring Sonia Nixon to justice”, said Superintendent Matt Cray.

“She has been a massive drain on local and wider Met resources, consistently abusing our emergency workers with vile and racist behaviour, as well as causing a menace on the streets.

“The excellent work by officers in convicting Ms Nixon means we will be able to prevent further instances of her high volume calling and impact to the 999 service level, ensuring we can prioritise resources where they are really needed, and help restore trust and confidence in our local communities.”

The Met said Nixon used 17 different mobile numbers to make the 999 calls between 2021 and 2023.

The force released a recording of one of the calls, in which Nixon shouts abuse at the operator, asks for the phone number for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and repeatedly says “where’s my stuff?”

She was ordered to pay a £120 fine, and is now the subject of a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order which says she must only call 999 in an emergency.

Nixon pleaded guilty to four racially aggravated public order offences, sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing message, criminal damage, and failing to surrender to a court.