A man claimed Bootle Strand shopping centre would be blown up in one of a series of hoax calls to police.
Kevin Mellon made numerous calls to Merseyside Police and the national anti-terror hotline over a number of days in June last year claiming the IRA was set to launch a a bombing campaign in England. Liverpool Crown Court heard the 42 year old was so drunk and his mental health problems so severe that he gave police his own name and address during the bizarre calls.
Mellon, originally from Derry in Northern Ireland, had been using drugs, drinking heavily and had stopped taking medication for his mental health conditions at the time the calls were made and police never believed they were genuine. Philip Astbury, prosecuting, said Mellon made a series of calls from his home on Milton Street in Bootle from June 22 to June 24 last year.
