A SERIAL crank caller has been given a suspended sentence for carrying out emergency service hoaxes.

Jeanette Upson, 42, admitted making nuisance calls to 999 in March this year.

She also made "silent" phone calls to members of her family - in breach of an antisocial behaviour order.

Upson, of Laurel Avenue, Dovercourt, is already serving a community order for similar offences.

She admitted a series of new charges at Colchester Magistrates' Court.

"My head has been so stuffed up - I shouldn't do these things," she said.

District judge David Cooper gave Upson a 16-week jail sentence, suspended for six months.

She was also given a curfew for two months.