A BAYSWATER man who threatened ambulance staff with a knife as they answered his 999 call has avoided jail.
Vincent Moloney, 54, of Pembridge Gardens, shouted and swore at paramedics after he had called them out, before pulling out a Stanley knife and waving it at them.
At West London Magistrates' Court on Thursday (November 12) last week, Moloney was given a 12-month community supervision order, after he admitted possessing the bladed article and using threatening behaviour towards the ambulance crew.
Moloney dialled 999 just after midnight on September 30, asking for an ambulance to be sent to Kensington High Street, Kensington, as he had pains in his chest.
Paramedic Neil Thomas said: "We pulled up at the scene and this man pulled out a Stanley knife and began waving it through the passenger side window.
"We got out of the ambulance and he then revealed he was actually the patient we had arrived to treat.
"He became even more aggressive and abusive. He took his jacket off and threw it down, as if to indicate he was ready for a fight.
"By this point the knife was back in his pocket, so to avoid things escalating I took it off him."
Mr Thomas and his crew mate Ian Letts were uninjured during the incident.
Moloney escaped on a bus before police arrived, but he was later caught and arrested.
When interviewed at the police station, Moloney said he didn't have a great recollection of what had happened as he had been drinking alcohol.
He told officers he had been going to see his niece, but she was not in.
When asked why he had a knife on him, he told them he always had it with him for his protection.
The court heard Moloney had an addiction to alcohol and problems with drug abuse.
Speaking in court, he said: "From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry for what I've done."
Welcoming the sentence, Mr Thomas added: "I'm glad he has been prosecuted. These sorts of things happen too often and it's right that it has been pursued through the courts.
"It's not right that he called us for help, we turned up and then he decided to threaten us.
"In some ways you learn to put up with this sort of thing, especially the verbal abuse, and it's tolerated as part of the job. But it shouldn't happen."
