A VENTNOR man who bombarded emergency services with hundreds of vile and abusive phone calls after an inquest's verdict on his wife has been warned he might be jailed. 

The coroner's office took the brunt of his campaign, with its phone systems clogged up. 

Paul Sainsbury, of Leeson Road, was due to be sentenced by Island magistrates on Friday after he admitted, at an earlier hearing, three counts of persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience and anxiety, between August 23 and November 29 last year.

However, the 68-year-old failed to co-operate with the Probation Service in the preparation of a report for magistrates.

The bench had already indicated Sainsbury may be jailed.

Sainsbury disputed a verdict reached by Island coroner, Caroline Sumeray, following an inquest into the death of his wife Sharon last year.

The pensioner subsequently made hundreds of calls to the Coroners' Office, the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service and Hampshire Constabulary, disagreeing with the verdict.

"The nature of the calls were often abusive, with aggressive, threatening and obscene language used towards staff," said Liz Miller, prosecuting.

"His calls, at times, completely clogged up the Coroner's Office phone system, severing the service for others," Miss Miller added.

She stressed Sainsbury caused major disruption, by drawing time away from coroner's investigations and services provided by the ambulance and police.

The bench was also told Sainsbury was convicted for causing a public nuisance in 2020 — again, targeting emergency services —  for which he was handed a suspended sentence, completed before his latest offending.

For Sainsbury, Jim Osborne said his client deeply regretted his actions and conceded "he can come across as a little agressive and, on occasions, a little rude."

Sainsbury disputed evidence put forward at his wife's inquest, which stated he had been drunk, had left keys out to their medicine cabinet, his wife took th keys and overdosed on medication in it.

Investigations had since been launched by both the police and Coroner's Office into allegations made against him at the inquest, Mr Osborne said.

"He suffers with his mental health and his calls were made out of frustration."

Sainsbury was handed one last chance to comply with probation, or face immediate imprisonment — bailing him to reappear for sentencing at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court on March 10.