AN ILMINSTER man who bombarded his MP and the Houses of Parliament with a staggering 27,000 nuisance phone calls in six months and walked naked through Ilminster town centre in a protest over world current affairs has been jailed for four weeks.

Jeffrey Colin Dyke also made repeated calls to operators of the emergency 999 system, on one day alone being responsible for 20 per cent of their calls, and claimed that Prime Minister David Cameron was a “terrorist”.

Dyke walked along Station Road in Ilminster, drunk and stripped naked with his arms in the air, he caused concern and distress to members of the public including families with young children.

He made reference to the Naked Rambler and said he was protesting against the government about incidents of terrorism.

Dyke, 51, of Winterhay Lane, Ilminster, pleaded guilty to the charge that on January 31 at Ilminster he intentionally exposed his genitals intending that someone would see them and caused alarm and distress.

He also admitted persistently making use of a public electronic communications network for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another on the same date along with a similar offence between July 5, 2015 and January 4, 2016.

Prosecutor Christine Hart said that between July and January there were a total of 27,000 calls made to the Houses of Parliament.

“They were persistent and often of an abusive nature where the defendant would swear at staff and make male and female call handlers feel uncomfortable,” she said.

“He said they were working for Satan’s Monkeys while he worked for the “boss” and made allegations that the government was killing people in the middle east, and he accepted that about 10 per cent of the calls he made were abusive.”

Miss Hart said that on January 31 between 3.30pm and 9.30pm the defendant made 55 calls to the police using the 999 call system from his landline number.

“There were a further 225 genuine emergency calls made which meant Dyke’s calls made up 20 per cent of the communications made that day,” she said.

“During the first call he referred to the female operator as “sister” and made reference to the police working for army terrorists.

“He also made reference to David Cameron being a terrorist and said he couldn’t ring Mr Cameron or his MP so the police were the last choice.”

At 5.10pm that day he was seen by a number of people walking up Station Road in Ilminster totally naked.

“He wasn’t even wearing shoes and was holding a piece of paper in his hand which was raised and a woman who was with her children became upset,” she said.

“He was walking on the pavement with his hands above his head scratching his penis on occasion and an off-duty police community support officer told Dyke to go home and when he replied noticed his words were slurred and he was intoxicated.”

He then returned home and continued making calls to the emergency services affecting 16 operators in total.

When he was arrested and interviewed the defendant said he was walking around naked as a protest and made reference to the Naked Rambler and said he was protesting against the government about incidents of terrorism.

The court heard that Dyke also cut off his electronic curfew tag that he had been fitted with during a previous community sentence for other instances of making nuisance calls to the police.

Defending solicitor Chris Ivory said that it was never Dyke’s intention to cause harassment or distress to young people who may have viewed his naked person on that day.

“He was visibly upset and said he was sorry for any alarm or distress caused but said the majority of Dyke’s offending pertained to police services,” he said.

“It is a bizarre case and he can hold a lucid and fluid argument about his beliefs, and the issues he feels passionate about are things that other people share issue with including the wars in Iraq, Syria and Egypt.

“They are not conspiracy theories, but his intention was to raise awareness of these issues and help people living in these areas of the world.

“He has made repeated calls to the police, his MP Marcus Fysh and the Houses of Parliament, however it is not acceptable for these people to be subjected to nasty comments and Dyke accepts this was borne out of frustration in not having his views heard.

“Mr Fysh had to contact him asking him not to contact him with such frequency and his PA said that he must not call more than five times a day and he then adhered to that.”

He said that Dyke’s intentions at the beginning were legitimate but said there were no threats or use of any violence.

District Judge David Taylor said that of the many thousands of phone calls made to the Houses of Parliament motivated by his wish to communicate with his MP became more heated than they should have.

“He said: “They were offensive, insulting and repeated and you understood that these calls caused needless anxiety to people doing their job.

“While it is every constituent’s right to have access to their MP, to persistently abuse members of staff is a denial of their right to communicate in a sensible way.

“The further incidents of calling 999 displayed abusive behaviour and you had been drinking at the time which is an aggravating feature.

“And the later action of you taking your clothes off and walking in a public street where members of the public could see you, including children, it does not surprise me that people find your conduct caused them alarm and distress.

“All that took place while you were subject to three community orders and you breached your curfew by taking your tag off.”

He sentenced Dyke to a total of four weeks in prison and ordered him to sign on the nation Sex Offenders register for the next seven years. An £80 victim surcharge was also imposed.