A "deeply troubled" Ipswich man who threatened to stab and shoot police officers in a series of malicious 999 calls has been jailed for 20 months.

Harry Thompson appeared at Ipswich Crown Court to be sentenced for making grossly offensive or menacing calls to the emergency services.

The 48-year-old was also jailed for breaching a restraining order by sending a threatening message to a woman on Facebook.

Thompson, of Lackford Place, had been remanded in custody at Norwich prison since admitting the offences at an earlier hearing before magistrates on November 9.

On Monday, prosecutor Oliver Kirk told Ipswich Crown Court that Thompson had repeatedly dialled 999 in the early hours of November 1.

In one call, he adopted the character of a fictional mass murderer, telling call handlers his name was 'Michael Myers', and threatening harm himself and stab a police officer.

In another call, he threatened to shoot the nearest police officer and claimed to have already harmed himself.

When arrested, Thompson admitted making the calls after drinking five bottles of beer.

On November 3, while on police bail, Thompson breached a two-year restraining order imposed in October 2019 by contacting a woman on Facebook Messenger and threatening to harm her son.

When arrested for a second time, Thompson again admitted the offence but claimed to have been joking.

Mr Kirk said: "There is evidence of significant upset and distress caused to the victim as a result of this."

According to a psychiatric evaluation, Thompson had emotionally unstable personality disorder but was deemed fit to stand trial and not recommended for a hospital order.

Steven Dyble, mitigating, said Thompson had been diagnosed with schizophrenia on two previous occasions, adding: "Something in the defendant's youth has caused him to be quite a troubled individual."

He said the offences were "unpleasant" and "exceedingly upsetting" for the victim, and that Thompson had made the obvious concession that a custodial sentence was inevitable.

Judge Emma Peters called Thompson a "deeply troubled" man, adding that she had little other option but to jail him for 20 months and extend the existing restraining order indefinitely.