Bognor bomb hoax call man imprisoned

Kevin Flynn made the hoax call from a public phone at the railway station in Bognor on July 31 of this year.

Chichester Crown Court heard that Flynn’s marriage with his former partner Kerensa Romara-Macmahan had broken down, and that he made the call to stop and humiliate her.

It was confirmed the same day the call was a hoax. Police had managed to track Flynn down after linking him to a previous call he had made to police, reporting that Ms Romara-Macmahan had damaged photos and clothes at his former Bognor home.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “Flynn was acting out of malice towards his wife who he knew was intending to fly to New York that day but he did not know which flight. So he made the call which resulted in urgent police enquiries at both airports but specifically at Heathrow as flights from Gatwick do not currently go to New York.

“In his call Flynn alleged that his wife had damaged property and stolen money that belonged to him in their flat, so when she was found boarding a British Airways flight at Heathrow, she had to be interviewed in order to establish the falsity of that statement too, although she subsequently caught a later flight.

“Flynn acted without care for any anxiety or disruption he might cause and our investigation and the sentence reflects the seriousness with which we and the courts take such hoaxes.”

Flynn, 31, formally of Wellington Road, Bognor, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and must half of that sentence in custody.