Suspended sentences for duo who made hoax bomb threat calls to Welsh council

Two people who made hoax bomb threat calls to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council have been handed suspended prison sentences.

Wales Online has stated in a report linked to by Carmelite Chambers - which defended Ronald Lawrence and Sharon Goodwin - that they had claimed a bomb would explode in the council’s Ebbw Vale civic centre.

They had been investigated over fraud allegations in 2015, which although resolved had left Ms Goodwin wanting to “lunge out” at the authorities, claiming she had lost her pension and friends as a result of the investigation.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the pair caused “significant disruption” in December 2018 when buildings had to be evacuated, after Mr Lawrence made the call in which he affected an Irish accent. Some 157 staff were evacuated at a cost to the council of £10,000.

A similar threat was made the next day when an evacuation costing £9,000 had to be made.

The pair admitted three counts of communicating false information with the intention of making someone believe a bomb had been planted.

Mr Lawrence was jailed for 16 months and Ms Goodwin for 12 months, with both sentences suspended for 12 months.

William England and Ben Hargreaves of Carmelite Chambers appeared for the defendants, instructed by Phil Smith and Henrietta Ronson at Simons Muirhead Burton.