A MAN who sparked a bomb alert on election day by leaving a suspicious package near a polling station has been jailed for two years and three months.
Peter Conoboy was held after police were alerted to an Adidas trainer box lying in the foyer of a tower block in Motherwell, Lanarkshire last December 12.
Inside was a white cable connected to a mobile phone as well as tubing and a putty-like substance.
There were fears the device could be a “viable explosive”, but it turned out to be a hoax which bomb disposal experts dealt with .
Jobless Conoboy was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The 48 year-old had earlier pleaded guilty to placing the package with the intention of inducing people to believe it was likely to explode or ignite.
A judge heard there appeared to be no motive for the incident.
Lord Matthews told Conoboy the authorities had “enough to do” without having to deal with such incidents.
He added: “The only conclusion is that this episode was caused or contributed to by gross intoxication, which is no excuse.”
The crime happened on the day of the UK general election and a community room at the block of flats at Glen Tower was being used as a polling station.
The court heard how the package had been spotted by a resident in the early hours.
Prosecutor Isla Davie QC said: “As he exited the lift on the ground floor he noticed a blue Adidas box lying unattended.
“He looked inside the box and saw a phone and what he thought might be old tools or equipment.”
“On closer inspection he saw a white cable connected to a mobile phone and phoned the police.
“The device appeared relatively sophisticated, containing wiring, tubing, a phone and a putty-type substance.
The court heard residents in the flats were evacuated to Wishaw Sports Centre and the polling station had to be relocated.
A cordon was set up and a bomb disposal team arrived with specialist equipment, including a robot capable of destroying the device
Ms Davie added: “The experts believed the device could potentially be a viable explosive and a controlled explosion was carried out.”
It was later confirmed it contained no explosive hazard.
CCTV footage watched later showed Conoboy, who lived in the tower block, placing the box in the lobby.
His DNA matched samples taken from the mobile phone.
Ms Davie said: “His mobile phone and laptop were examined to try to provide some possible motive.
“This did not recover anything which indicated any particular political affiliation or radicalisation.
“There was nothing linked to any instructions or how to guides for making the device.
“The only item of note consisted of five videos of terror activity including the London Bridge attack and also Christchurch in New Zealand attack.
“There was nothing recovered to indicate he was a supporter of these incidents.”
Billy Lavelle, defending, said Conoboy planned to leave Motherwell and return to Ayrshire on his release.
The lawyer added: “There is nothing I can say as to why he done this.
“It has been suggested that this is a man who, at the time, seemed to have gone from one misfortune to another.”
Lord Matthews said the jail term would have been three years, but for the guilty plea
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here