Cornwall: Fake bomb sender jailed for two years

A man who sent a fake parcel bomb to an address in Cornwall has been jailed for two years.

Lee Moody, 58, from St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, previously admitted sending a letter to cause distress or anxiety and causing a bomb hoax.

Judge Geraint Walters at Swansea Crown Court told Moody on Tuesday that bomb hoaxes have "serious consequences".

The court previously heard authorities did not know it was fake until they tried to detonate it.

Moody had been charged with dispatching by means of post an article, namely a homemade mocked explosive device with the intention of inducing in another a belief that the article was likely to explode or ignite and therefore cause personal injury or damage to property.

Alongside the custodial sentence, Judge Walters also placed a 10-year restraining order against Moody, "when it is hoped the dust will have settled" between the defendant and the victim.

Moody was also handed a quarter discount on his sentence.

Prosecutor Zoe Kuyken told the court that there was a "fractious relationship between the defendant and the developer" of Sailor's Creek, a harbour in which the boat Moody lived in was moored in for 15 years.

The 58-year-old sent the victim a threatening letter with the "text in cuttings from magazines" on 7 September 2022.

Ms Kuyken said the victim "did not tell anyone about this fearing for his life".

Then on 6 January he reported he had received a parcel addressed to him which looked like a parcel bomb which had either failed to detonate or was fake.

Reports from the scene said that police and the bomb disposal squad were called to Flushing in the early hours of 8 January 2023.

The prosecutor said between 200 and 300 people had to be evacuated from the village while they awaited assessment from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit.

A command centre was also set up by the police at Tregew Barn above the village.

A 100m cordon was put in place and the roads surrounding the area were also closed while the parcel was forensically examined.

Inside the parcel, a letter was found stating 'make your peace with God. I am coming for you' along with a drawing of a stick man with an axe to its heart, a knife to its neck and a house on fire.

The parcel is alleged to have been posted from Guildford, Surrey on 21 December 2022.

Defence counsel Hannah George said Moody had been suffering with mental health problems, with anxiety, autism and PTSD playing a role in his behaviour.

She said Moody's autism diagnosis explained why he "found it difficult to deal with change" and this behaviour was "out of character".

Judge Geraint Walters took this into consideration, alongside the fact Moody had only had "one blemish" on his previous record.

Though, he said rarely do people send bomb hoaxes who are not experiencing poor mental health.

The judge added that jailtime would give Moody the psychiatric help he needed.

"Not least in these troubled times, bomb hoaxes have serious consequences," he added.