Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Man jailed for four months for repeatedly calling 999 and pretending to be Nicki Minaj

Stephen Brown has been jailed for breaching an ASBO that banned him from making non-emergency calls to the 999 service

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Wednesday 09 September 2015 06:28 EDT
He called police claiming to have seen a poltergiest in his house and to be Nicki Minaj
He called police claiming to have seen a poltergiest in his house and to be Nicki Minaj (AP)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to four months in jail for breaking an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) by repeatedly making non-emergency calls to 999 and pretending to be Nicky Minaj.

Stephen Brown, of Crumlin, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, was branded a “nuisance” by the judge at Antrim County Court, and was told his actions could lead to those who needed help from the emergency services not receiving it, Belfast Live reported.

His defence lawyer, Aaron Thompson, described Mr Brown as a chronic alcoholic and “his own worst enemy” during the hearing, the newspaper reported.

Mr Brown had been appealing an eight month sentence for his breach of the ASBO, which had banned him from making non-emergency calls to 999 after a series of incidents. The judge reduced the sentence to four months.

In January this year Mr Brown was banned from drinking alcohol by the Belfast Crown Court after he breached the ASBO by making two calls to 999 on Christmas Day 2014 claiming to have seen a ghost while calling himself the American female rapper.

According to Sky News Mr Brown had first made a call at 10:15 am on Christmas Day making claims that two men had threatened to kill him. Police were unable to extract more information from Mr Brown due to his level of intoxication, but he called back five minutes later to say he wanted to cancel the first call, before making the claims that there was a poltergeist in his house and that he was Nicki Minaj.

His defence lawyer at the time said Mr Brown had recently been released from hospital and had consumed alcohol while taking medication, against doctors’ advice, but the prosecution said he had recently served a sentence for “offences of a similar nature”.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in