A serial hoax caller fooled an NHS Direct call handler into believing he was a ''hermaphrodite'' left pregnant following a gang rape.

Orion Phoenix, 32, phoned the health information service to falsely claim he had both male and female reproductive organs and that he had been sexually assaulted by a man and a woman.

During his bizarre wind-up call, Phoenix, a computer engineer also claimed he had an ''unwanted pregnancy'' as a result of the encounter and asked for medical advice.

The unnamed call handler escalated the call to a senior healthcare professional, before the hoax was rumbled.

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Phoenix, from Blackley, Manchester, was found to have a history of making other hoax phone calls, including an incident when he phoned a sexual assault support centre in Cornwall to claim his landlady had forced him to have sex with her.

He had also been made subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) after clocking up 28 malicious communications offences between 2004 and 2017.

At Manchester magistrates court, Phoenix was convicted of breaching the CBO but walked free from court with a 12 week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months.

Phoenix denied wrongdoing.

The court heard the CBO was issued against Phoenix in Wiltshire in 2017 and stated he could not have possession of a mobile phone not registered to a known network, nor can he call the emergency services for anything other than a medical emergency.

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But prosecuting, David Morgan told the court: “He has been phoning helplines and services who help people who have been victims of sexual assault. He was making up stories to persuade the call handler to say something sexual and it seems he derived some pleasure from it.

“The most recent incident occurred on 22 December 2018 when he called the NHS helpline as he was concerned about an unwanted pregnancy after being raped by a male and female.

''He said he had got both male and female reproductive organs and said he was raped. He goes into a lot of detail and tried to get an abundance of sympathy from the call handler. He then asks questions about sexual intercourse and gets the call handler to explain aspects of sexual health for his own sexual gratification.

''The call handler dealt with it extremely carefully and referred him to the relevant parties as they believed it to be genuine. But later on it was confirmed it wasn’t. It was found to be the same calls made consistently and the same voice to previously. This is long running behaviour.”

In 2018 Phoenix was in court after he contacted the Willow sexual assault support centre in Cornwall and pretending to be a rape victim.

He told a call handler he had woke up at his rented property to his landlady ''going up and down on him.''

Acting naive, he also asked the worker at the centre questions about sex before his call was found to a prank.

In mitigation, his defence lawyer Laura Beaumanis said: “He was convicted after trial although he never disagreed that he was the call maker.

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“The defendant said he was a young man with various mental health issues and has no recollection of making the telephone call. He said he suffered disassociation at the time.

“This is an unusual offence and he does have a record for similar offending.

“He was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when he was 12 and he is waiting for a diagnosis of PTSD. When previously before the court it’s been aired that he could possibly have borderline personality disorder.

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“Unfortunately this has resulted in a lot of agencies not wanting to speak to him as they don’t believe he has genuine concerns.

''He is not on medication and is currently not being supported by the community mental health team. He is essentially left to his own devices.

“The offences are now of some age and he has not committed any other offences. He has tried to move away from this. He is currently working in a zero hour contract but he is financially stable. He has a low risk of further offences and is fearful of custody. He is trying to maintain employment and trying to remain financially independent.”

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