Leeds Hoax: Emergency call from ‘vulnerable three-year-old’ claiming her mother had fallen was faked

  • Girl called herself ‘Ellie’ and said her mother had fallen and could not get up
  • Two ten-year-old girls being spoken to by police about hoax call
  • ‘Youngster’ said the front and back doors were locked and she could not get out of the house

By
Anna Edwards

08:34 EST, 31 July 2012

|

11:26 EST, 31 July 2012

Police have confirmed that the 999 call from a three-year-old girl to report her mother had fallen and was not moving was a hoax.

Detectives investigating a 999 call to the ambulance service which claimed to be a three-year-old girl called ‘Ellie’ reporting her mother collapsed at home have now established the call was made by two ten-year-old girls.

Unusually the number that made the call was not identifiable and could not initially be traced, prompting a frantic search for vulnerable ‘Ellie’.

URGENT APPEAL below

Urgent: Dr David Macklin, from Yorkshire Ambulance Service and Lisa Griffin, Detective Chief Inspector, of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team were urgently looking for ‘Ellie’

A team of detectives from West Yorkshire
Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, made wide-ranging
inquiries to trace the family, including checks on police systems,
hospitals, and the public register of births.

Today the mobile phone number was
traced to a Bridlington address where two ten-year-old girls living
there were identified and have been spoken to by officers this
afternoon.

Officers are now liaising with the girls’ parents and partner agencies to take appropriate action. They have not been arrested.

Detective Chief Inspector Lisa
Griffin, of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: ‘We are pleased
that our investigation has shown that we don’t have a vulnerable little
girl out there with her mum collapsed beside her, although it is
obviously incredibly frustrating that this has turned out to be a hoax.

‘We treated the call as genuine on
the basis of what was said what could be established in the initial
stages of the investigation.

The girls had told the operator the girl’s name as ‘Ellie’ and her mother was called Stacey Hall.

Search: The little girl clearly said that she lived in Leeds

‘Ellie’ said her house number was 23
and had ‘Court’ in the street name and said she lived in Leeds and her
grandparents lived in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

During the call, which lasted 33
minutes, ‘Ellie’ told the call-handler that she was nearly four years old
and that her mother had fallen over and would not get up.

She said she had shouted at her mother
and wiggled her but she remained on the kitchen floor with a piece of
toast in her hand, not moving.

‘Ellie’ had worried 999 by saying the
front and back door were locked and she could not get out of the house,
prompting fears she was vulnerable and alone with a sick mother.

Police traced a number of women called Stacey Hall to eliminate from the inquiry.

Detective Chief Inspector Griffin added: ‘We are very grateful to the public and
the media for all the support they have given us in appealing for
information over this incident.

‘Our priority is always to help the public and protect life as was our overriding focus in this investigation.

‘This incident again highlights how
misuse of the 999 system can cause significant unnecessary work for the
emergency services who have limited resources to deal with genuine calls
for help from members of the public.

‘We hope it will help to remind people of the serious consequences of misusing the 999 system.’

AUDIO: Who is Ellie? The hoax call

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

These kids need to know the enormity of their prank. Then be grounded for a month and mobiles confiscated.

know it’s wrong but kids will be kids. They should get a stern telling off and made to do chores, at the control centre!!!- lastofmany, here still
——————————————————————————————————kids will be kids? you make it sound like what they did was perfectly normal. well it certainly wasn’t when i was a kid

I must say when I heard this played on the radio my initial thoughts were, that this child who was 3 had exceptional speech for a 3 year old and was able to understand the operator very well. I’m sure most 3 year olds would not have been able to communicate that well, however I may well be wrong. What a terrible waste of money and resources though they should be handed a stiff punishment for what they have done.

How small is the child if se can’t reach kitchen drawers

They should be made to publicly apologise.

Apparently this is a hoax and two ten year olds have been traced

Maybe they should make the kids go out with the emergency services for the day, they would be ashamed

If this was my daughter, her feet wouldn’t touch the ground.
They should be made to do a public apology!!

At the age of ten surely these girls should know that it is very wrong to make hoax calls to the emergency services? Maybe they will think twice if the parents are made to pay for this?

Back in my day we had those physical padlocks you could put on phones. Pity such a digital device doesn’t exist

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