Jail For Man Who Made Bomb Hoax To Shoreham Police Station

Tuesday, 29 June 2021 06:00

By Jade McLean

A man has been jailed after making a bomb hoax at Shoreham Police Station - just a day after the Manchester Arena bombing inquest report was published.

Peter Osbourne, 60, who is unemployed and of no fixed address, called 999 at around 7.32am on June 18th.

Officers traced the call to a phone box in Shoreham High Street and officers were told not to open any mail.

Police from divisional response and operations departments, along with CCTV operators and the Force Intelligence Unit, traced the call and tried to determine the feasibility of the threat.

Both South East Coast Ambulance Service and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service put on standby.

The suspect was located and arrested within 30 minutes of making the call, and emergency services were stood down 15 minutes later after the Divisional Response Inspector and Critical Incident Manager confirmed the threat was a hoax.

Peter Osbourne, 60, unemployed and of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with making a bomb hoax, and was remanded in custody.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at Brighton Magistrates’ Court the following day (19 June), where he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge.

Detective Constable Noel Simmonds said:

“This bomb hoax was made the morning after Sir John Saunders published his first report on the Manchester Arena bombing, a sad reminder of why emergency services have to take such threats seriously.

“Whilst this incident turned out to be a hoax it was only the swift and thorough investigation that prevented serious disruption to the community.

“I would like to thank all of the emergency services involved in this incident, and Brighton and Hove Magistrates for demonstrating that the courts will deal robustly with this kind of behaviour.”