Grieving GTA fan calls police over death of a character

A young videogames fan has landed himself in a spot of bother with the police, after it was revealed he had dialled the emergency number to report the death of his friend…who turned out to be nothing more than a character on the Grand Theft Auto V game.  David Helens, who lives in the north-east of England, dialled 999 and told the operator that his friend Max had been attacked. He went on to say that Max had been shot in the chest and that he was slipping in and out of consciousness.  Later, he went on to say that he thought Max was dead, before an ambulance was scrambled to his location. As paramedics arrived, they heard Mr Helens screaming and shouting about the condition of his friend. However, it turned out to be nothing more than the death of a beloved character.  That wasn’t all for Mr Helens, though, who has since found himself in court, where he admitted to making the malicious phone call and found himself subject to a 12-month community order, on which he must complete 120 hours of community service.  The north-east Ambulance Service said that in total it had taken 12 minutes to deal with the hoax call, while it had also had to send two vehicles to the address of Mr Helens even though nothing was wrong.  Laura Johnston, defending, said: “It would appear that the phone call made to the emergency services coincided with him playing a violent shooting game on his computer. “He tells me that he has very little recollection of the phone call.  “Mr Helens has significant health needs. He is deaf in his left ear, partially blind in his left eye and has speech problems.” Elsewhere in the strange world of videogames, earlier this week it was revealed that a man had been cautioned in the US after he called police to complain that someone had apparently broken into his house with the sole intention of changing the settings on his PlayStation 4.