Hunt on for hoaxer who shut town

7:00pm Thursday 3rd July 2008

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A BOMB hoax alert in the Christchurch offices of Twynham Housing Association brought the town centre to a grinding halt for more than an hour on Thursday morning.

Now police are trying to hunt down the hoaxer who caused so much costly disruption.

Emergency services rushed to the town centre when a member of staff received a telephone bomb warning.

High Street, Castle Street, Wick Lane and Church Street were closed, leaving a safety zone of about 200 yards around the building in Wick Lane.

Fire and police officers ensured that all premises within the zone were evacuated and ensured no one crossed the security cordon.

Ambulance service incident commander David Perrett said: "We've got reserves nearby, within a minute's drive."

It was business as usual at Christchurch News just outside the cordon. Proprietor Keith Orford said the first they knew of anything happening was about 11am when the fire engine pulled up outside.

Yellow Bus driver James Vanlint said: "I got here about 11.30 and as I pulled up at the stop they had just closed the road off. The call came over the radio at the same time to divert and don't go through the High Street."

Road blocks were lifted and the all-clear given at 12.07pm.

Robert Morley, 43, was clearing out one of the housing association offices when the alarm was raised.

He said: "We heard it was a phone hoax. Someone rang in and said there's a bomb in the building.

"The alarms went off automatically and were all evacuated very quickly."

A police spokesman said: "A thorough search of the building and surrounding area by police and staff confirmed that the call had been a hoax and nothing was found.

"The call caused considerable disruption to the local community and wasted the time of the emergency services.

"It is a criminal offence to make a hoax bomb call and on conviction at the crown court offenders can be sentenced to a maximum of seven years in prison."

Anyone who has any information about the hoax caller should call Sgt Dave Honeyman at Christchurch police station on 01202 222222 or the free and anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555111.