A woman who dialed 999 more than 2,000 times in three years has been jailed.

Sonia Nixon, 56, from Harrow, north London, called the emergency hotline from 17 different mobile phone numbers between 2021 and 2023.

according to Metropolitan Police, That made her the fifth-worst caller during the period.

In 2023 alone, she called the hotline 1,194 times, making her one of the three users who made the most repeated calls to the police that year.

Nixon was arrested in January on 668 violations of the Communications Act of 2003 and charged with 670 crimes.

After her arrest, she racially abused a police officer and was arrested for racially aggravating public disorder, before urinating in a caged van in the Met and being arrested for criminal damage.

Nixon was convicted last month of calling an emergency hotline and four racially aggravated public order offenses against emergency workers.

She has now been sentenced to 22 weeks in prison.

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Nixon was also sentenced to a five-year criminal behavior order. It includes a condition that 999 be contacted only in emergencies.

Police estimate her ongoing offending cost them around £4,500 over five months.

The Metropolitan Police said her misuse of the 999 system had a “significant impact” on the speed with which operators could respond to genuine emergencies.

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Chief Constable Matt Cray said: “This is an excellent result and is testament to the hard work and dedication put in by the community policing team to bring Sonia Nixon to justice. She consumed a The continued abuse of local and wider Met resources by despicable and racist behavior by our first responders, as well as the threats posed on the streets.

“The excellent work done by officers in convicting Ms Nixon means we will be able to prevent her from making large numbers of calls again and impacting 999 service levels, ensuring we can prioritize resources where they are really needed and help restore people’s trust and confidence in our local community.”

Police say more than a quarter of calls to emergency services are not for policing purposes, with rowdy callers costing the Metropolitan Police more than £2 million.