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A man who made more than 250 hoax ambulance calls has been banned from contacting the emergency services.

Vincent Enos, from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, was found guilty of making unnecessary and nuisance calls to the emergency services which cost about £5,000 in unrequired resources.

Over a 12-month period, the 54-year-old claimed people were dead, unwell or being abused, but paramedics sent to the locations found no such incidents.

Enos was sentenced to a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

It prohibits him from contacting any emergency service by phone, email, text, or any other method - except in a genuine emergency situation - and could result in a fine or prison time if breached.

He is also banned from encouraging or instructing anyone else to do so, and will have to pay a fine of £338, a victim surcharge £114 and court costs of £85.

PC Adrian Muscat, anti-social behaviour coordinator at South Wales Police, said Enos’ actions “potentially risked the safety and health of other members of the public due to the emergency services being tied up dealing with persistent unnecessary calls”.

He added: “We hope that the CBO imposed on him serves as a warning to others that – with our partners – will use the full force of the law to protect the members of the emergency services and the public where persons are guilty of wasting emergency services time.”