Ipswich man sentenced for obscene and malicious phone calls
He targeted schools & nurseries.
A man from Ipswich has been sentenced to 20 months in jail after being convicted of making obscene and malicious phone calls to various establishments.
Joel Deeny, aged 33 and of Fuchsia Lane in the town, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court yesterday (3 June).
It follows an earlier hearing where he pleaded guilty to five counts of making an electronic communication, namely phone calls, that were indecent or grossly offensive in their nature.
The five incidents took place between 8 to 14 December 2020 to five different schools or nurseries in the Hertfordshire area.
Following his arrest and charge in December last year Deeny was investigated by staff from the Operation Converter team.
He made admissions to a further 29 offences of a similar nature that were taken into consideration at sentencing. The vast majority of these - 17 - took place on 5th December 2020 to various schools and nurseries in the Ipswich area.
The other offences took place on between 4th December and 9th December in Ipswich and one offence to an establishment in Surrey.
Deeny's arrest on 15 December 2020 and subsequent searches, identified the phone and SIM card that had been used to commit the offences and further evidence linking Deeny to the phone.
Duncan Etchells from the Op Converter unit said:
"The content of these telephone calls were highly offensive and sexually explicit in their nature and tone and would have been very distressing for the recipients to hear.
They were left on the voice mail systems of various schools and nurseries. He showed remorse for the calls that he had made whilst he was under the influence of controlled drugs and wished to apologise to those for whom he had caused such offence."
Operation Converter is an initiative aimed at encouraging offenders to admit their crimes.
This has benefits for all - police are able to give victims some peace of mind that an offender has been caught for the burglary of their home or the theft of their property and the individual has the opportunity to clear their slate, so they can have a fresh start when they are released from prison, without the possibility they will later be traced for a further offence.
Offenders have to give sufficient detail for officers to be sure they have committed the crime and these offences are then 'taken into consideration' at sentencing.