"There was no need to dial 999. The police would not have got there any faster"
This is just one of your pathetic excuses that totally falls apart under scrutiny.
999 exists for several reasons:
1) because it is easy to remember without the need to find a phone book and look it up. Your claim that no time is lost in looking for a phone book and looking up numbers is nonsense. In fact, at trial Jeremy explained away some of the gap in time between allegedly receiving Jeremy's call and phoning police on the time required to look up the numbers.
2) Because the people handling such calls are specially trained to handle emergencies and they instantly know who to contact to dispatch. Those fielding regular lines deal with many non-emergencies and are not as prepared to cope with emergencies. If Jeremy had dialed 999 then help would instantly have been sent by Bonnett. West had to field Jeremy's call then contact Bonnett and tell Bonnett everything Jeremy told him in order to get Bonnett to arrange to dispatch help. So instead of Jeremy speaking to Bonnett and help being sent instantly there was an added step where West had to phone Bonnett and repeat the various things Jeremy told him. That extra step most certainly wastes time.
3) 999 is operated 24/7. Phones at stations are not manned 24/7 and therefore time can be lost trying to find a station that has a manned phone. That is exactly what Jeremy claims happened he lost time calling Witham and finding no one there.
So had Jeremy dialed 999 then:
A) He would have immediately dialed
B) He would have immediately gotten through
C) Bonnett would have sent police out
Instead Jeremy:
A) looking the number to Witham
B) Dialed Witham but did not get through
C) looked up the number to CHelmsford
D) Dialed Chelmsford and told his tale to West then was put on hold
E) West called the same room Jeremy would have reached had he dialed 999 and repeated Jeremy's tale
F) Then police were dispatched
So not calling 999 resulted in many extra steps and loss of time. Your claim is untenable.