Man convicted after he falsely claimed that a bomb had been left outside Derry's main police station

A Derry man has been convicted of making a hoax call to say that a bomb had been left outside Strand Road police station in the city.

Emmett Gillen initially claimed that he had been forced to make the call in January of this year by a group of masked INLA men who had broken into his home.

However, the 39-year-old later admitted that he had been responsible for making the hoax call.

He was sentenced to a total of six months imprisonment when he appeared at Derry Magistrates Court on Friday but the sentence was suspended for two years.

A Public Prosecution Service representative told the court that on January 11 police received a telephone call just after 9pm.

However, the caller said nothing and the call was terminated after four seconds.

Around 10.15pm on the same night, police received another call from the same number and the caller stated that a bomb had been left outside Strand Road police station.

A third call was received from the same number at 11pm and the called stated 'it's the INLA, we just want to let you know we are going to burn cars in Creggan, Bogside, Galiagh and everywhere tonight. You know what I mean and we are going to make sure you stay stretched tonight, so we are'.

A fourth call was received from the same number around 20 minutes again warning about cars being set on fire.

At around 11.35pm, another call was received from the number and the caller questioned what was taking the police so long to come out to his address.

He identified himself as Emmett Gillen and gave his address.

He claimed that there had been masked men from the INLA in his home at Clon Elagh and that he had made the calls 'under duress'.

Gillen told police that the INLA gang had come to his visit following complaints of anti-social behaviour in the property.

The PPS representative said that after receiving the calls police officers had made checks around Strand Road station but found nothing suspicious.

After arriving at Gillen's home, officers could find nothing to indicate that there had a forced entry in the property.

Officers also found no injuries or sign of a struggle on Gillen.

During police interview, he later admitted that no masked gang had been in his house and that he had 'made up' this story.

He subsequently admitted making the hoax bomb call.

The court also heard details of a separate incident involving Gillen which happened on January 17 this year.

The PPS representative said that police received a call around 7.40am from Gillen on that date to say that he had broken his bail conditions and wanted to be arrested.

When officers arrived at his home, they found Gillen at the top of stairs shouting at police to 'come and arrest me, come up and see what I have for you'.

He then threw 'household items' at the police.

The officers tried to get up the stairs but he threw two chairs and a DVD player at them.

Officers deployed CS spray and Gillen was eventually arrested.

A defence solicitor said Gillen was a 'chronic alcoholic' who was guilty of 'nuisance' offences towards the police.

The solicitor added that in sobriety his client was very remorseful for his actions.

On a positive note, the solicitor, said that Gillen had a clear record from 2014 to 2019 and claimed that this highlighted that he was capable of not offending.

The judge told Gillen that the offences could have landed him in the crown court where his sentence would have been much higher.

However, she said that he deserved credit for admitting his guilt.

For the hoax call offences, he was sentenced to four months imprisonment.

He received a further consecutive two months sentence for resisting arrest and assaulting police in connection with the January 17 incident.

This made a total of six months but the judge said she was prepared to suspend the sentence for two years.

She warned him to stay out of trouble otherwise the suspended sentence would be activated and he would be sent to prison.

The judge told the defendant: “Mr Gillen please for your own sake make every effort to secure help for your alcohol addiction because that is one way of staying out of trouble.”