Hoax bomb caller captured by voice experts

A hoaxer who spread panic in the bomb-ravaged town of Omagh was captured by voice experts, it was disclosed today.

Peter McKenna, 26, admitted 12 false telephone alerts after detectives called in the analyst who helped prove Major Charles Ingram cheated on TV quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

But the father of two walked free today after a judge hit out at “sick people” who have plagued the Co Tyrone town since 29 people were killed in the August 1998 atrocity.

Sentencing McKenna to four years in jail, suspended for three years, Judge Jeffrey Foote told him his offences were so grave he could have been locked up for seven years.

He said: “Making hoax bomb calls anywhere in Northern Ireland is very serious but it’s particularly serious in Omagh which was devastated as a result of the bomb.

“They have suffered great pain and continue to do so.”

McKenna, of Inisclan Road in Mountfield just outside Omagh, made his 999 calls between March 2002 and February 2003, using telephone boxes and his mobile phone. In one fake warning he even phoned from a Chinese restaurant in the town.

Phil Mateer QC, prosecuting, told Omagh Crown Court sitting in Dungannon that in his first call he claimed a bomb was due to go off outside the town’s courthouse in 15 minutes.

That was the same location wrongly given by the Real IRA in the dissident republican terrorists’ attack, which caused mayhem five and a half years ago.

McKenna also claimed explosives had been left at the local police station, two pubs and two private addresses over an 11-month campaign of night-time calls.

In an alert in May 2002 he told police he could not give all the information because he would be shot by the IRA.

He also claimed to have information about the Omagh bomb but demanded £1,000 (€1,500) in cash before he would tell detectives, the court heard.

Police twice found him standing at phone boxes just after calls had been made, on one occasion with his T-shirt wrapped around the receiver. But McKenna denied making the hoaxes.

Eventually he was arrested, and during questioning investigating officers brought in outside help, Mr Mateer said.

“A voice expert indicated in his view that the caller was Peter McKenna by use of voice recognition techniques,” the barrister disclosed.

Outside the court Detective Constable John Caldwell confirmed the voice expert was Dr John French, who has been used during Lord Saville’s mammoth inquiry into the Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry.

Dr French was also brought in to prove Major Ingram cheated when he scooped the jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Mr Caldwell said: “Dr French carried out voice analysis on recordings of the bomb calls and compared it to McKenna’s voice.

“As a result he was able to distinguish that the caller was McKenna.”

Defence barrister Ian Turkington said his client had pleaded guilty early on and was filled with remorse.

Bouts of heavy drinking which McKenna has carried out ever since he was badly assaulted in 2000 had played a pivotal role in his decision to make the hoaxes, he said.

“These bear all the hallmarks of a nuisance factor.

“It’s no coincidence that the calls were made almost entirely in the early hours of the morning.”

Mr Turkington added that the fact he had phoned from his own mobile showed they had not been well planned.

He said: “It’s accepted it’s an inconvenience and it’s unsavoury but there’s no hallmarks in relation to sophistication.”

During sentencing Judge Foote added: “You weren’t, to put it mildly, hard to catch.”

McKenna, who was accompanied by his father and partner, was driven off without making any comment.