A phone pest is being forced out of her home after pestering emergency services with hundreds of hoax 999 calls.

Over nearly three years, Denise Talbot, who is blind, made scores of calls which tied up the emergency services.

She also terrorised neighbours in her 13-storey tower block with threats of violence, by starting fires and playing loud music.

Now she is being evicted from her council flat in Molineux Court, Heaton, Newcastle, and must leave by June 7.

It is believed Miss Talbot, who is in her mid-forties, generated about 280 emergency calls for police, fire and ambulance services in the time she was living there.

She was led into Newcastle County Court by her legal team for a possession order brought by the Newcastle Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, backed by the city council and police.

The court heard that before the hearing she was already the subject of an injunction forbidding her from contacting the emergency services unless there was a real emergency.

She had also been warned against abusing or threatening other tenants and excessive noise. The injunction against Miss Talbot was extended for another three months by Judge John Behrens.