A 50-year-old 999 prank caller has been slapped with a five year ASBO banning him from making pointless calls to any public service.

Patrick Burke (pictured), of Stamford Brooke Avenue, has habitually phoned the emergency services over the last 15 years, wasting their time with false claims, wild goose chases and pointless phone calls.

The unemployed single man, who has been described as having an "academic brain", also regularly harasses people in public places, with upsetting and offensive statements.

It is not just 999 calls that Patrick has been making since the early 90s. He has also phoned police in the USA, customs and excise, French customs and the coastguards, making on average a40 prank calls a month.

On July 21 he appeared in Feltham Magistrates court where he received a five year ASBO with the conditions that he must not:

- Contact any public service or agency, including the 999 emergency system, and make deliberately frivolous or knowingly pointless phone calls leading to a waste of their time and resources.

-Make any false or malicious reports, or threats, regarding the health and safety of any person, or animal, by any communication methods to any person from within England and Wales.

- Make any malicious, alarming or false reports, to any person, involving firearms or terrorism.

- Engage in any behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person not of the same household as himself within England and Wales.

Hounslow Anti Social Behaviour Officer, Julie Rabjohn said: "Patrick Burke has a substantial history of public nuisance.

"Not only does he engage in malicious hoaxes and prank calls, which cause distress and upset to people, he will also go into the community and harrang the public, causing them offence and alarm.

"This ASBO has been sought and granted to protect the community. We will continue to work with our partner agencies to get his other problems resolved."

This is the second ASBO that Patrick has received for this kind of behaviour.

 The first stand alone order he received was in October 2005 for two years, which he breached and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.