A MAN has been jailed after making a bomb hoax at a police station.

Peter Osbourne, 60, unemployed and of no fixed address, has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for hoax earlier this month.

The 999 call was received at 7.32am on Friday, June 18 – the morning after the Manchester Arena bombing inquest published its first report.

The call was traced back to a public phone box in Shoreham High Street, and officers were sent to the scene.

Meanwhile, all staff and officers at Shoreham Police Station were alerted to the incident and advised not to open any mail.

The two-minute phone call led to the deployment of officers from several departments.

Divisional response and operations were put on alert to protect the public.

CCTV operators and officers from the force intelligence unit began tracing a potential suspect and "establishing the feasibility of the threat".

Both the South East Coast Ambulance Service and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service were put on standby.

The suspect was found and arrested within 30 minutes of making the call, and emergency services were stood down 15 minutes later when the hoax was confirmed.

Osbourne was arrested and charged with making a bomb hoax, and was remanded in custody.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at Brighton Magistrates’ Court the next day, where he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge.

Detective Constable Noel Simmonds said: “This bomb hoax was made the morning after Sir John Saunders published his first report on the Manchester Arena bombing, a sad reminder of why emergency services have to take such threats seriously.

“While this incident turned out to be a hoax it was only the swift and thorough investigation that prevented serious disruption to the community.

“I would like to thank all of the emergency services involved in this incident, and Brighton and Hove Magistrates for demonstrating that the courts will deal robustly with this kind of behaviour.”