Sunday, April 03, 2011

Airport bomb scare: Man jailed for hoax call just before Pope lands

A man tried to disrupt the Pope’s visit to Scotland because he was angry about how much it was costing the taxpayer.

Kenneth Ross called Lothian and Borders Police claiming there was a bomb at Edinburgh International Airport.

But he did not withhold his mobile number and police rapidly traced the hoax 999 call to the City Link parcels depot where he worked.

The ex-RAF aircraft fitter made the call at 6am - just hours before the pontiff was due to land in Scotland, Livingston Sheriff Court heard on Thursday.

The threat was taken seriously and security was tightened until it was established that the message was a malicious prank.

Despite throwing his office mobile phone over a fence before police arrived, Ross, 52, was arrested at his office in Livingston, West Lothian, within half an hour.

His suspicious behaviour, reported to police by a workmate, was caught on CCTV.

Ross, 53, from Blackridge, West Lothian, earlier pleaded guilty to committing a breach of the peace by making the hoax call on September 16 last year.

He admitted trying to trick police call centre staff into believing that “a bomb or other thing was likely to explode or ignite” at the airport.

Wendy McDonald, prosecuting, said that when constables arrived at his workplace another member of staff told them he had been seen acting suspiciously.

She told the court: “He’d thrown an item over the fence. It was the phone that was used to make the 999 call. He told officers that the call was to cause obstruction to the Pope’s visit as he was angry about the cost to the taxpayer.”

Glenn Fraser, defending, said Ross had not thought things through before making the call.

He said: “It was a spur of the moment thing and there wasn’t a motive that anything should happen that day. He’s lost two jobs as a result of this and it will have massive repercussions for him. He called it the stupidest thing he’s ever done in his life. The fact he’d had a drink the night before is probably a factor.”

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch jailed Ross for 162 days.

He told the accused: "It’s difficult to understand why you decided to phone the police. But you must have known, and perhaps even intended, that Edinburgh Airport would be evacuated.

“This would have caused huge disruption for such a high profile event not to mention widespread inconvenience for thousands of ordinary airline passengers. Bomb hoaxes of this nature must be dealt with seriously by the courts and the fact that no disruption was caused is of little consequence."

“Despite the fact that you’re 53 years old and almost a first offender I’ve come to the conclusion that no other sentence other than imprisonment can be imposed.”