'Worse for wear' worker phoned in bomb hoax to Ballymena employer in bid to get day off
An employee feeling the "worse for wear" phoned in a bomb hoax from his workplace in a bid to get the day off, a court heard.
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge that he 'communicated certain information which you knew or believed to be false, to another person, namely PSNI call handler, with the intention of inducing in PSNI call handler or some other person a false belief that a bomb or other thing liable to explode or ignite was present at Moore Concrete'.
The defendant, Thomas Brady (29), with an address listed as Dunvale, Ballymena, but who is now said to be living in England, was at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Thursday.
A prosecutor said at 7.09 on December 17, 2024, police received a phone call on the 999 system with a male voice saying: "I've reason to believe there is a bomb in the grounds of Moore Concrete."
Location data showed that the call was made from Moore Concrete in Ballymena. The mobile number was linked to another man who had left his phone unattended in a workers' break room and police were satisfied that the voice was not him.
CCTV showed Brady in the break room at the time the call was made and he subsequently pleaded guilty. The prosecutor told Ballymena Magistrates Court she did not believe the premises had to be evacuated.
District Judge Nigel Broderick asked if the defence had noted the excuse the defendant had given to a Probation Officer. The defence barrister said the excuse was "quite unbelievable".
The judge said the defendant had gone to work but was the "worse for wear" due to "substance misuse" and "didn't want to do a day's work and rather than call in sick he lifts the phone and rings in a bomb scare. Unbelievable to say the least".
The defence barrister said the defendant lost his job following the incident but now works in England. The lawyer said Brady had been in rehab for over 40 weeks and he is now "on top of" substance abuse and is remorseful.
Judge Broderick said the defendant, who had a clear record, had pleaded guilty and expressed remorse and "hopefully we can attribute this to a very foolish, isolated, incident".
He received a four-month prison term, suspended for two years.