Bomb hoaxers are jailed

Two hoaxers who sparked a Black Coutry terror alert and the evacuation of householders when they left a bogus bomb in an alleyway have been jailed.

Fourteen police officers, an army bomb disposal team and a specialist sniffer dog were dispatched to the area after a hoax 999 call from one of the men.

Simon Smith, aged 39, and his partner Shane Foster, 20, cried and hugged at Wolverhampton Crown Court after earlier pleading guilty to placing an article with intent for people to believe it was a bomb.

The drama unfolded last October after the 999 call. Officers found a shoe box in Great Barr with red and black wires. The lid was fastened to the box and holes and had been punched in it.

Ms Helena Miller, prosecuting, said officers who found the "device", in an alleyway off Grasmere Close, were concerned for the safety of nearby families.

They were ordered out of their homes before the device was declared safe.

She said police traced the 999 call to a house in Grasmere Close, where the defendants lived.

A search of the house found wires similar to that in the bogus bomb.

Both men were arrested and Foster admitted making the package with Smith, who he had driven to the scene to plant the device.

Mr Sham Uddin, defending, said they had carried out the hoax after reading an article in a local newspaper about a similar incident.

"They were smoking cannabis on the day. They can't explain why they did what they did." Smith was jailed for a year and Foster was given four months.