A woman who pestered the ambulance service, dangled from road bridges and stood in the way of trains has been jailed for over two years.
Bethany De Cogan, 21, an alcoholic described as an “attention-seeker”, made repeated calls to the ambulance service telling operators she was planning to jump off a bridge over the A19 and kill herself, causing a major road to be closed on two occasions.
De Cogan, from Kilburn, had been banned from calling 999 except in a genuine emergency and prohibited from drinking in public anywhere in the Hambleton district after previous incidents in which she had wandered onto railway tracks in Northallerton – in some cases narrowly escaping with her life and causing major train delays, York Crown Court heard.
But on February 8 last year, two motorists spotted the drunken woman apparently trying to jump off the bridge at the junction of the A19 and A170 at Thirsk, said prosecutor Michael Bosomworth.
“When police arrived, they found her being restrained on the floor by three members of the public,” he added.
De Cogan, who had drunk a bottle of vodka, was arrested and told police she had taken a taxi to Thirsk and been dropped off next to the bridge with the “intention of jumping off”.
The troubled young woman – whose behaviour was in breach of a criminal-behaviour order imposed by York magistrates in November 2019 – was released on bail but a few months later she was on the phone to the ambulance service again, telling an operator she had cut her arms with a razor blade.
When the operator told her there was no ambulance available because they were out on calls, De Cogan “threatened to cut her (own) neck with a razor blade”.
“She said she was feeling violent and was at home with her grandmother,” said Mr Bosomworth.
On September 28, she made six drunken calls to the ambulance service, saying she was “going to walk seven miles and then jump off the same bridge”.
She was found walking around Kilburn in the early hours of the morning and was arrested yet again. On route to the police station, she repeatedly spat at the security screen inside the police van.
About a week later, she called police saying she was “on the edge of the same bridge over the A19, with her feet (dangling) off the edge”.
“She said she had walked from Kilburn to the bridge (in Thirsk) which had taken three hours,” added Mr Bosomworth.
“She said if police turned up, she would jump.”
When police arrived, De Cogan was standing on the wrong side of the barrier, overlooking the busy arterial road. It took officers half an hour to coax her back onto the correct side of the parapet.
“Officers said she was drunk and had a nearly-empty bottle of gin with her,” said Mr Bosomworth.
De Cogan was bailed again, but she was back on the bridge soon enough, climbing over the parapet and dangling from the edge as vehicles flashed past below. On this occasion she was spotted by officers and passers-by who hauled her up to safety.
“She had two bottles of vodka with her, was aggressive with officers and had to be taken to the floor before being handcuffed,” said Mr Bosomworth.
“The A19 had to be closed in both directions for some considerable time.”
Following further drunken incidents in December, De Cogan, formerly of Northallerton, was finally remanded in custody.
She appeared for sentence on Monday after admitting six charges including several breaches of the criminal behaviour order and making nuisance calls to the emergency services. She had originally faced a 16-count indictment, including assaulting a police officer, but the remaining charges were ultimately withdrawn after De Cogan denied the allegations.
The court heard she had 20 previous convictions for 40 offences and had first appeared before the courts in her early teens for causing a nuisance on school premises. She had numerous convictions for trespassing on railway lines, as well as assaulting emergency workers, wasting police time, possessing a bladed weapon, being drunk and disorderly, harassment and sending offensive messages.
A North Yorkshire Police statement outlined how down the years De Cogan’s “persistent and serious” offending, “drunkenness” and “attention-seeking-acts” had disrupted emergency services.
In the summer of 2019, she cost the rail authorities over £25,000 in train delays after stepping onto the tracks in front of moving locomotives, causing train drivers to make emergency stops.
Chris Morrison, for De Cogan, said she had a serious personality disorder which had been exacerbated by heavy drinking.
He said De Cogan had been living with her grandmother after being evicted from her flat.
Judge Sean Morris said De Cogan was a “chronic alcoholic” with a “severe personality disorder”.
He said it was time she had a “prolonged period of abstinence” in jail.
The judge said he didn’t believe that De Cogan had “any intention of jumping (off the bridge), in reality”.
“This was attention-seeking of its worst kind and the A19 had to be closed on two occasions,” he added.
Jailing De Cogan for two years and three months, he said her actions had put people’s lives at risk by potential delays to life-saving services.
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