Fake bomb maker wanted 'invaders to go boom'

A man who made a fake nail bomb and told police he wanted "invaders" to "go boom" has been jailed for a year.

Sean McCrystal, 61, showed his "amateur" homemade invention to officers when they went to his house in March, after he had sent police a series of alarming social media messages, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The court was told he was frustrated due to his belief that immigrants were getting help and benefits he felt he should have received.

McCrystal, from Gateshead, who had a dependency on alcohol according to his defence team, admitted communicating false information with intent to cause fear.

He sent multiple messages to Northumbria Police on Facebook on 26 March, prosecutor Claire Anderson said.

After not getting an immediate reply, he said he was "getting nowhere" and "let's see how boom wakes you up", the court heard.

He also made reference to not wanting to kill British citizens and the authorities should get rid of "invaders".

Police went to his home where he was "very agitated" as he talked about how he "hated the government" and "invaders to the country" who he wanted to "go boom", Anderson said.

He then produced what looked like a homemade improvised explosive device from his kitchen cupboard, the court heard, which included a tube filled with nails.

When officers asked him what it was, he replied "I mean what I say, I want them to go boom", the court heard.

A later search of his phone revealed he had also sent a picture of the device to someone else, saying he wanted to "kill loads of invaders" and he was going to "blow up" an "invaders' hotel", before asking if the other person had any grenades.

Anderson said McCrystal's actions should be treated as a "hate crime" motivated by "hostility" towards people based on their citizenship.

In mitigation, Glenn Gatland said McCrystal was in the grips of alcohol dependency syndrome at the time and was being visited by carers twice a day.

He was "upset about events he saw on the television news with people coming and claiming benefits and housing" while he was "struggling to get the help he needed", Gatland said.

He said McCrystal was "very angry" and frustrated as he thought "illegal immigrants" were receiving help "he couldn't possibly get".

Judge Tim Gittins said McCrystal made "repeated threats" towards people "because of them not being citizens of Britain".

He said the fake bomb was a "fairly amateur effort" but was sufficient to "no doubt seriously alarm" officers who were confronted with it.

The judge said McCrystal's offences occurred at a time of "increased public tension in relation to immigration issues" and led to a "significant waste of police time and public money" in dealing with him.

The court heard McCrystal had been given a suspended sentence in 2020 for possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear.

Even though it might have been a "cry for help", the bomb hoax showed it was "clear" McCrystal had "not learned [his] lesson about the consequence of threatening violence to others", the judge said.

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