(Please read both stories)
‘Despicable’ woman who posted abusive note on ambulance windscreen is fined
A woman who verbally abused paramedics and then left a note on an ambulance telling them to “move your van” has been handed a £120 fine.
Kirsty Sharman, 26, pleaded guilty to a public order offence over the incident in which the crew had been responding to a 999 call from her next-door neighbour in Stoke-on-Trent.
Sharman was fined after she admitted telling paramedics to “move your f******g van” and leaving a foul-mouthed note on their ambulance.
Sharman, of Parsonage Street, appeared in the dock at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on Tuesday, flanked by a security officer, with her brown hair tied up and wearing a light grey sweater.
She admitted writing the note, which she said she “couldn’t give a s***” if the whole street collapsed, and verbally abusing paramedics.
Sentencing, the chairman of the magistrates Christopher Rushton told her: “This was an absolutely despicable incident.
“The fact it was directed at an ambulance crew providing a public service to a sick person. That crew should not be subject to actions such as these.”
The ambulance had been responding to a neighbour’s emergency call to assist his wife, who was “experiencing breathing difficulties”, prosecutor Liz Ryder told magistrates.
She added there had been “ongoing difficulties” between Sharman and her neighbours, leading to a restraining order being issued against her in January.
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Miss Ryder said: “Throughout the course of the ambulance being parked, a note was left on the window of the ambulance.
“A neighbour saw that note being deposited by the defendant and they took it from the rear windscreen and posted it back through the defendant’s address, having torn it apart.”
She added the paramedics were later made aware of the note.
Sharman also went into the street and abused a male paramedic, telling him: “Move your f****** van.”
Miss Ryder added: “Clearly she accepts she was in a public place and her behaviour and language was disorderly and inappropriate in the circumstances.”
Appearing in court in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Sharman, through her solicitor Hayley Keegan, offered her “most sincere apologies to the ambulance staff”.
She added: “She accepts the behaviour was completely unacceptable.”
Sharman was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30 and £135 costs, while a separate charge of breaching a restraining order was withdrawn by the prosecution.
She was charged after a social media plea by West Midlands Ambulance Service staff.
Paramedic mentor Katie Tudor posted a picture of the note on Twitter, copying in the police.
The ambulance had been parked in a residential street in the Tunstall area at the time.
The note read: “If this van is for anyone but Number 14 then you have no right to be parked here. I couldn’t give a s*** if the whole street collasped [sic]. Now move your van from outside my house.”
Ms Tudor used Twitter to draw the note to the attention of Staffordshire Police Chief Constable Gareth Morgan.
Social media users reacted with disbelief and anger at the note, with one official ambulance service Twitter account commenting “#sadtimes”.
This is a story from the nieghbor that called the ambulance for his wife (still in hospital).
Neighbour who called 999 slams sentence of abusive ambulance note woman Kirsty Sharman
https://www.yahoo.com/news/neighbour-called-999-slams-sentence-abusive-ambulance-note-woman-kirsty-sharman-084732518.html
A retired engineer has lashed out at the sentence handed out to Kirsty Sharman, who left an abusive note on an ambulance that told them to “move your van”.
Brian Heath called 999 to send the ambulance to his home in Stoke-on-Trent that parked outside Sharman’s property.
Yesterday, Sharman, 26, pleaded guilty to a public order offence for writing the note, which said she “couldn’t give a s**t” if the whole street collapsed” and was fined £120.
However, Mr Heath, whose wife Christine was being treated by the ambulance crew, said they were at their “wits’ end” with their neighbour.
Mrs Heath, a retired postal worker, is still in Royal Stoke Hospital where she is being treated for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
The couple, who have three children and three grandchildren, have been forced to keep a log of incidents since Sharman moved in next door in September 2016.
Mr Heath, who also served in the army, said: “My wife is still in hospital.
“This is the fourth time she [Sharman] has been arrested – we are at our wits’ end.
“I call her Teflon because nothing sticks. This has been going on for more than 15 months. I am shocked she has got off again.”
Recalling an incident over the festive period, Mr Heath continued: “She was arrested the Friday before Christmas, they kept her in on Christmas Day – we had a lovely Christmas dinner and she went to court on Boxing Day.
“She was bound to keep the peace with us, us and any third party. She wasn’t allowed to come to Parsonage Street.
“Since she has been here she has been up till the early hours – she wasn’t supposed to come back here.
“Police came every day, knocking on the door, but she wouldn’t open the door and she was using the back door.”
He added: “She might be all ladylike but when she starts, she starts.
“We are called ‘grasses’ any time the police come. It’s doesn’t matter if other people in the street phone them, it’s us, we are grasses.
“We have had food thrown up our door, she has kicked the door, she spat all down the door.
“She said, ‘if you don’t keep your f**king mouth shut it will be more than spit on your door.’
“I even apologised to the paramedics because I knew what was going, she was opening and slamming the door and, of course, she had a go at the paramedic.”
Commenting on her fine for leaving the note on the ambulance, Mr Heath said: “The police have done a wonderful job but we were let down by the courts…
“The fine won’t make any difference, I am not holding my breath.”