Bogus caller who posed as Nuneaton hospital doctor and told eight families their child had died has been jailed for four months

A hoax caller who phoned families at random and claimed their relatives had died has been jailed for four months.

Ashley Dodd, who posed as a hospital doctor and a care worker during eight bogus calls, left one grief-stricken victim planning her son’s funeral and led another to have an asthma attack.

Nuneaton magistrates court was told the 28-year-old had targeted residents in the Bedworth area of Warwickshire in the early hours by choosing names from a phone book. Dodd was described as eloquent as he informed relatives they would be required to identify their child’s body at George Eliot hospital in Nuneaton.

Naila Iqbal, prosecuting, told magistrates the offences were committed in June after Dodd, from Exhall, had been drinking alcohol. At least two victims travelled to the hospital genuinely believing their sons had died.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Iqbal, Balvinder Hayer described how she was reduced to an “emotional wreck” by a call at 2.20am.

Another victim, Patricia Bee, described “driving like a lunatic” to reach the hospital, where baffled staff said they had no record of her son Scott. In her statement to the court, Mrs BeeShe told the court: “At the hospital I just wanted to see Scott. I thought they had already taken him to the mortuary and were stalling because they were waiting for a doctor to see me.”

A police inquiry traced the bogus calls to a mobile phone belonging to Dodd, who told another victim that her mother had died in a care home.

The hoaxer, who has a previous conviction for a similar offence as well as a history of dishonesty and public order breaches, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to eight charges under the Malicious Communications Act.

Having asked magistrates for permission to make a personal apology to several victims who attended his sentencing hearing, Dodd expressed shame over his actions. He told the court: “I just want to apologise for what I have done – it was absolutely disgusting. I am ashamed of what I have done and I am sorry for any inconvenience I have caused.”

Passing sentence, the chairman of the bench, Trefor Jones, told the father of two: “This is an appalling offence. You say that you are disgusted, the victims are disgusted and so are we. The guidelines suggest a sentence in the range of a high-level community order and up to 12 weeks in prison. We have decided to go out of that range due to the aggravating features.

“There are multiple victims and there is a serious psychological impact on a number of victims. Each offence is so disgusting it will attract 16 weeks in custody to run concurrently.”