Pensioner jailed over bomb hoax

An "obsessed" pensioner who admitted setting up a bomb hoax that caused chaos in central London was jailed for 15 months yesterday.

Joseph Dowling, 69, a retired property developer of Broom in Bedfordshire, was trying to resolve a long dispute over a solicitors' bill.

He parked his camper van outside the Law Society's offices in Chancery Lane and waited for someone to see a picture of an explosion stuck on his windscreen and a warning of "timers". It took nearly three hours for someone to raise the alarm, which became a full-scale alert.

Holding what was called a "device", which seemed to have a command wire leading to the vehicle's curtained-off rear, a "calm and determined" Dowling refused to move until he had spoken to a solicitor.

Senior officers ordered a response involving hundreds of policemen and specialist teams, which lasted through one night in January and much of the next day, Southwark Crown Court in London was told. Cordons were set up and buildings, including homes, offices and the Royal Courts of Justice were evacuated. Judge Bathurst-Norman said Dowling's "total and indeed irrational obsession" had caused fear and disruption.

He admitted communicating false information intended to make people believe a bomb was present.