A hoaxer who demanded £1 million not to blow up Tony Blair's hotel during the Labour Party conference in Brighton has walked free from court.

Earlier this month Paul Hyde, 18, of Thorndean Road, Brighton, was jailed for nine months but he has now been released on appeal.

Hyde made three bomb threats on a mobile phone during the Labour conference in September.

He first told police a bomb at the seafront Hilton Metropole Hotel would explode at 6pm, saying he had planted it "because of Tony Blair".

He told the operator: "I want £1 million under the West Pier at seven o'clock, otherwise the bomb will go off."

The operator replied: "But you told me it was going to go off at six o'clock."

Hyde replied: "I changed my mind . . . if I haven't got the money by six . . . er . . . seven o'clock it's bye bye."

He later said: "I want the money by seven o'clock. If the money isn't there, the bomb will go off at 7.30. It's up to you - bye bye."

In a second call he said bombs at the Brighton Centre and Metropole would explode at 9pm and he wanted the money under the pier at 10pm.

He insisted he wanted everyone evacuated, including the Prime Minister.

Jobless Hyde was convicted and jailed for nine months by Brighton magistrates on January 5.

But Lewes Crown Court judge Guy Anthony yesterday quashed the sentence and instead imposed a two-year probation order.

Martin Williams, defending, said: "My client was a young man of only 17 at the time of the offence. He requires help rather than punishment."

He said Hyde came from a broken home, had been abused when he was younger and had tried to harm himself in the past.

Judge Anthony said: "The offence, albeit perhaps not the most serious of its kind, is still serious, not least because in Brighton many years ago there was a real bomb that caused death and injury."

He told Hyde: "You have heard the clang of the prison gates behind you and know how unpleasant it is to spend time in such an institute."

Hyde, born in Brighton, was arrested for the hoaxes after arriving at Brighton police station in an ambulance.

He had been picked up for being drunk some time after making the calls, which were traced to his mobile phone.