A prisoner who made a hoax bomb threat to a Leicestershire hospital has been sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment.
The 28-year-old was in prison having pleaded guilty to making online postings encouraging acts of terrorism when he made two calls to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, on 4 October 2021.
The caller made threats of a bomb and stated the hospital needed to be evacuated.
Leicestershire Police had been notified and the call was able to be linked to the prison where he was a prisoner.
The man was suspected of being responsible and following examination of phone records, it was confirmed he had made two calls – at 9.41am and again at 10.12am. The content of the call was also able to be confirmed.
He was produced from prison and arrested in February 2022. Following an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing East Midlands (CTPEM), he was charged with making a hoax bomb threat. He was found guilty of the offence following a trial at Leicester Crown Court in July this year.
The man was sentenced today (Friday) at Warwick Crown Court.
He had previously been sentenced on 22 October 2021 to two years and eight months imprisonment after pleading guilty on 30 September 2021 to encouragement of terrorism.
This followed an investigation by CTPEM in which the man was found to have made online posts between 8 October and 5 November 2020 which were deemed to be encouragement or inducement to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
At the time, he was also made subject of a 10-year notification requirement – which means he will have to inform the authorities of certain personal information. Breach of this is an offence, which can result in imprisonment.
The sentence issued today will be served consecutively to the sentenced issued in October 2021.
Detective Sergeant Frank Fraser, from CTPEM, said: “This man was already in prison having pleaded guilty to encouraging others to engage in terrorist activity when he made these threatening phone calls from prison. The phone calls will understandably have caused distress and disruption for staff at the hospital while they were trying to provide the best possible care for patients and could ultimately have put lives at risk.
“But thanks to the instant, calm actions of hospital staff and prison staff as well as the investigating team and officers from Leicestershire Police who dealt with the initial report, we were able to quickly identify the man as the person responsible and to quickly bring an end to the incident, including avoiding evacuation of the premises.
“We will ensure that we continue to deal robustly with any offending of this nature and that we continue to bring those responsible for this offending before the courts.”
Please remember if you see or hear anything which you suspect is connected to terrorism, you should trust your instincts and ACT by reporting in confidence at www.gov.uk/ACT. Always call 999 in an emergency.