A WOMAN has cost emergency services nearly £18,000 by making scores of unnecessary calls for medical help, a court heard.

Magistrates were told that 24-year-old Rachel Pearce had been a "huge drain" on public resources, making nearly 200 calls of which 133 were when she either did not require or refused medical treatment.

Prosecutor Abdul Shakoor told Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court yesterday that Pearce would make emergency calls to police or ambulance claiming she was self harming with knives, blades or glass.

Police would have to attend with Tasers because of the nature of the report, but the defendant would be abusive and make threats.

Mr Shakoor said the cost of Pearce calling the police was significant.

The court heard the defendant had Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and gender dysphoria, meaning that she wanted to live as a man. But there were difficulties with that because of her alcohol consumption and psychological problems.

She preferred to be called by the man's name of Kai.

Pearce, whose head was shaved, pleaded guilty yesterday to persistently making use of the public communication network, to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, between February 1 and July 17 last year.

Mr Shakoor said she was alcoholic and suffered from mental health problems, including autism. There were several support agencies who wanted to help her but she did not appear to want to engage with them.

The defendant had moved to the Chellowfield Court residential complex, in Heaton, Bradford, after being referred by Lynfield Mount Hospital, and had made about 60 calls to police. That figure had increased to 196 by October.

Mr Shakoor said Pearce had made 29 calls to the ambulance service in the first week of January this year, at a cost of £6,289. He said other members of the public needing the emergency services might not get access or have to wait longer because of the calls.

Mr Shakoor said the defendant had a number of similar matters on her criminal record, including assaults on police constables and sending false messages by the public communication network. She had received sentences ranging from fines, to community orders and conditional discharges.

The prosecutor said Pearce was due before court next month for an allegation of assault against a member of the ambulance service and the use of a knife to make threats.

Pearce's solicitor, Paul Fitzpatrick, said there was a pattern of strange behaviour. He said the first call received, shortly after 2am on February 12 last year, came from Lynfield Mount Hospital, which had received a large number of calls from Pearce saying she was suicidal and had razor blades. Police found her, covered in blood, in Haworth Road, and took her to Bradford Royal Infirmary.

But Mr Fitzpatrick accepted there were times when she was drunk and abusive on the phone, and when they arrived she told them she did not want their assistance.

He asked for the case to be adjourned for a psychiatric report, and said consultant psychiatrist Paul Bevan had prepared a previous report on her, in which he said there would be no quick solution to her problems.

Mr Fitzpatrick said there was a risk that Pearce would get drunk in the early hours of the morning and ring emergency services, but she could be arrested and brought to court.

The Bench agreed to make an interim Criminal Behaviour Order, prohibiting Pearce from calling the emergency services unless she genuinely needed medical treatment.

She will be sentenced in eight weeks after psychiatric and probation reports have been prepared.