Ex-soldier who made chilling bomb threat just HOURS after London Bridge is attack spared jail
Stan Boardman called the cops to say he had an explosive device strapped to his back and 'that was all they needed to know'. Police traced the call to Staffordshire and found him with an empty bag
A FORMER soldier who carried out a chilling bomb hoax escaped jail after a judge ruled it didn’t matter that he made the 999 call the day after the London Bridge terror attack.
Recorder Julian Taylor told ex-squaddie Stan Boardman: “The sentence should not be aggravated by the fact a real terrorist attack happened shortly before.”
Boardman, 39, phoned the emergency services shortly after midnight on June 4, hours after Islamic terrorists drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge - stabbing people in and around restaurants and pubs.
Eight people were killed and 48 injured. The three attackers were shot dead by police.
The following day Boardman rang police from a telephone kiosk and declared: “‘I have got a bomb strapped to my back. That is all you need to know.”
Prosecutor Howard Searle told Stoke on Trent crown court: “The police took that seriously as the day before there was the //mcb777.fun/topic/london-bridge-attack-2017/London Bridge terrorist attack.
“Police viewed CCTV from a shop and were able to see the person who made the call. They were able to identify the defendant at 1.30am and he was still in the area carrying a rucksack.
“He did not have anything in his bag. The call was a hoax.”
Boardman pleaded guilty to communicating false information with intent.
The judge told him: “This was a foolish thing to do but fortunately it did not seem to create too much alarm to the police or public.”
Boardman was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay £100 costs.
He must also complete a 12-month alcohol treatment requirement and a rehabilitation activity requirement for 12 days.
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