Air ambulance needlessly called after Kettering hoaxer told police he'd been stabbed

A man rang 999 to say he had been stabbed near a Kettering supermarket - only to be arrested because it was a hoax.

Andrew Barrett reported that he had been attacked near Tesco at about 2.30pm on June 11, with police and paramedics dispatched to the scene in Carina Road.

And because of the serious nature of the alleged incident the air ambulance was also called.

But all along the 54-year-old was completely fine and he was arrested after being located in his home street of Sussex Road in Kettering.

At Northampton Magistrates' Court Barrett admitted wasting police time and was sentenced to an 18-month conditional discharge.

It means no further action will be taken unless he commits another crime in the next year-and-a-half.

He was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge to fund victim services of £22.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said: “Andrew Barrett took considerable resources away from other serious incidents that day with police officers, paramedics and the air ambulance all sent in response to his call.

“The blue light services have a very finite amount of resources and none of us will tolerate our time being wasted as Andrew Barrett did on this day.

"We hope he has learnt his lesson."

Each air ambulance rescue mission costs about £1,700, according to The Air Ambulance Service, which receives no Government funding.