Text bomb hoaxer cleared

A DUBLIN-BOUND Australian gap year student accused of triggering an airport bomb scare with a “joke” text message was yesterday cleared of any crime but left with a hefty legal bill.

Angela Sceats, aged 19, of Sydney, Australia, was found not guilty of communicating false communication with intent by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court after a two-day trial.

But a judge ruled that she should pay her own legal costs - estimated by judicial sources to be around £15,000 (€21,700).

Ms Sceats spent 10 days in Holloway Prison, north London, after being remanded in custody by magistrates following her arrest in November.

“I just want to put this episode behind me,” she said as she left court. “I’ve always maintained from the moment of my arrest that this incident was an unfortunate misunderstanding. I would never intentionally cause a security alert.”

Jurors were told that Ms Sceats was working as a waitress in London during a break from travelling and was on her way to Stansted Airport to catch a Ryanair flight to Dublin.

She was running late and while on the train from Liverpool Street Station sent a text message to Angela Forster in Islington, north London, saying: “Call the police and say there is a bomb on board.”

Ms Forster, who is also Australian, immediately rang 999 to report the text and police prevented three Dublin-bound flights from leaving Stansted and considered shutting down the airport. Ms Sceats was arrested when she arrived at Stansted.

Prosecutors alleged she was attempting to delay the flight by sending the message and intended Ms Forster to believe it. But Ms Sceats told the court the message had been a “stupid joke”. She said she and Ms Forster were enjoying a jokey text conversation as she travelled on the train and the “bomb” message was part of that.